The memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans : recollections of the second French empire

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THE

MEMOIRS

OF

DR. THOMAS W. EVANS

IN THE “STORY OF THE NATIONS” SERIES

Illustrated. Large Crown 8 vo, Cloth , 51-

MODERN FRANCE (1789-1895)

By ANDR6 LEBON,

Member of the Chamber of Deputies.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.

THE MEMOIRS

OF

DR. THOMAS W. EVANS

RECOLLECTIONS OF THE
SECOND FRENCH EMPIRE

Edited by

EDWARD A. CRANE, M.D.

ILLUSTRATED
VOL. I.

LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN

PATERNOSTER SQUARE • MCMV

/.ST

HISTORICAL ]
MEDICAL I

</5r f jy

[All rights reserved.

These volumes, entitled “ The Memoirs of Dr. Thomas W. Evans
— Recollections of the Second French Empire,” contain a portion
of the “ Memoirs and Unpublished Works ” of the late Dr. Thomas
W. Evans ; and their publication is approved and authorised by
his Executors, as directed by the writer in his last will and
Testament.

Charles F. Muller,
Arthur E. Valois,
Edward A. Crane,
William W. Heberton,

Executors under the will of
j Thomas IV. Evans , deceased.

Paris, 1905.

_ A

Preface

ON account of my friendly connection for more
than thirty years with the late Dr. Thomas W.
Evans, and in compliance also with his frequently
expressed desire that I should be the editor of his
“ Memoirs ” and manuscript remains, these writings
were placed in my hands soon after his death ; and
I have since been requested by his executors to
prepare for publication that portion of them which
gives the sub-title, and forms the subject-matter of
this volume.

Dr. Evans’s long and close attachment to
Napoleon III. and his family, the confidential rela-
tions he maintained with other sovereigns and
princely houses, and his large and intimate acquaint-
ance among the men and women who, from 1848 to
1870, were the governing powers in Europe, afforded
him unusual opportunities of observing the evolution
of political ideas and institutions in France, and the
conditions and the causes that immediately preceded
and determined the fall of the Second French Empire
as seen from within ; and supplied him also with facts
and very valuable information concerning the same
subjects as seen, or gathered in, from without. No

IX

man, moreover, was better acquainted than he with
what may be termed the moral atmosphere of the
several Courts to which, for so many years, he was
professionally attached. In a word, he had acquired
an unusual amount of that kind of knowledge which
is derived from frequent and informal intercourse with
persons filling the highest official and social positions
in widely separated political communities, and which
especially qualified him to form and pronounce correct
judgments, with respect to the significance of the
events that were the most remarkable, and the
character of the rulers and of the men who were
the most prominent, during a very interesting period
of French and European history.

Although Dr. Evans could make very little preten-
sion to literary ability, he possessed the gift of saying
what he had to say with such evident sincerity, that it
is greatly to be regretted he has placed on record so
little, when he might have told us so much, con-
cerning the personal qualities, opinions, habits, and
manner of life of the great personages with whom it
was his privilege to become acquainted. Indeed, I
am quite sure that whoever reads this book — whatever
defects he may find in it — will sometimes feel that he
is a very near and sympathetic witness of events and
incidents which the writer himself saw and has with
such distinctness and soulfulness described.

The writings entitled “ Memoirs,” by Dr. Evans,
were, as left by him, in two parts. The first con-
tained a sketch of the political and military situation
in France and Germany that immediately preceded
the Franco-German War, together with a very full

account of the escape of the Empress Eugenie from
Paris, and the establishment of the Imperial family
at Chislehurst. This formal narrative was prepared
in 1884, but remained unpublished — principally
from a sentiment of delicacy on the part of the
writer. Twelve years later, in 1896 — the year before
his death — Dr. Evans began to make a record of his
reminiscences in an autobiographical form, but com-
posed in substance of occurrences and experiences
personal to himself during his life as a court dentist,
together with numerous character sketches of the
distinguished people it had been his good fortune
to meet and to know. This record was the second
part of the “ Memoirs.” Unfortunately no attempt
had been made, while preparing it, to give to it a
literary form. The subjects were treated separately
and with little regard to their proper order. Many
of the pages contained merely notes or memoranda ;
and, as was inevitable under the circumstances, inci-
dents were re-told, and there were numerous minor
repetitions, especially with respect to matters that
had already been set forth in the first part. The
work of co-ordinating and assimilating the materials
had been left for a more convenient season — and, as
it has proved, for another hand to do.

In preparing the contents of the present volumes
I have selected from the two parts the portions in
which, in my opinion, the public is most likely to be
interested, and which at the same time are of the
greatest value historically. They tell the story of
the flight of the Empress from her capital, of which
no complete and authentic account has ever before

XI

been published, and include practically everything in
the “ Memoirs,” that relates to the Second French
Empire.

The greatest difficulty that I have encountered in
the course of my editorial work, has arisen from the
necessity of suppressing one or the other of the repeti-
tions, or very similar statements, in the parts referred
to ; and then, so fusing or, rather, stitching the para-
graphs and sections together as to give to the whole
sufficient continuity and unity to be acceptable to
myself without doing violence to the original text.
The plan adopted, and which I believe to be the best
in view of the facts above mentioned, has been to
keep together, and in the body of this book, what
relates directly to the Fall of the Empire, and to
include in the opening and closing chapters most of
the author’s more strictly personal reminiscences and
appreciations of the Emperor Napoleon III. and the
Empress Eugenie.

I certainly should feel, however, that I had alto-
gether failed to accomplish what I have sought to do,
were I not aware that it is the generally conceded
privilege of the writer of memoirs and reminiscences
to remember only what he chooses to remember, and
to say it just when it pleases him to say it. And in
according with me this liberty to the author, I trust
the reader may be equally generous towards the editor
of this book, so far as he may be disposed to hold
him responsible for an arrangement of its contents
that may occasionally seem wanting in sequence, or
for a style of writing that is perhaps, at times, a little
too ddcousu.

xu

But there is one point of more importance than
any question of form with respect to which I have
no desire to disclaim my responsibility. For the
accuracy of the narrative where it relates to matters
of which I have a personal knowledge — and they are
many — I hold myself equally responsible with the
author. And I may also say that I have felt it to
be a part of my editorial duty to verify his statements,
where errors of fact seemed possible, whenever I could
do so conveniently ; to compare with the originals the
passages he has cited from various writings and re-
ports ; to name his authorities, when they were not
given by him ; and to contribute a few appendices and
foot-notes, in one or two of which I have not hesi-
tated to express my own opinion of persons with some
freedom.

Edward A. Crane.

22 Rue St. Augustin, Paris.

xiii

Contents

CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNINGS OF A FRIENDSHIP

PAGE

How my acquaintance with Prince Louis Napoleon began. His life at
the Elysee — The day before the coup d’Etat — Dr. Conneau and
Charles Thelin — The Emperor’s way of bestowing favours — A cross
of the Legion of Honour — A diamond pin — My professional relations
with the Emperor — Dentistry in France in 1847 — The wife of a
dentist — My position at Court — “ Have you nothing to ask ? ’’—The
courage of the Emperor — The bombs of Orsini — The Emperor’s
generous nature — A debt of honour — A Dreyfus case — Frangois
Arago — The Emperor’s philanthropy — “ L’Empereur des Ouvriers”

— The Emperor’s amiability — Abd-el-Kader 1

CHAPTER II

CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR

The mother of Louis Napoleon — The personal appearance of the
Emperor — His love of the country — “ He was a wonderful landscape
gardener ” — He cared nothing for art for art’s sake — His utilitarianism
— His domestic habits — He was an able writer — He despised flattery
— M. Duruy — The Emperor disliked circumlocution — He was
tenacious of his opinions, but slow to form them — The sources of
his information — The Burlingame Mission — The Emperor’s extreme
caution — An illustration — The Emperor's wit and humour — He was
a peacemaker — His imperturbability no mask — He was a forcible
speaker — His religion — His pride — His qualities the opposite of our
faults 38

XV

Contents

CHAPTER III

THE MARRIAGE OF THE EMPEROR

PAGE

Louis Napoleon is advised to marry — The Princess Caroline— The
Duchess of Hamilton — Ancient and modern Knights — The Duke of
Hamilton — A great surprise — Eugenie de Montijo ; her character,
her person — The Emperor announces his engagement — How the
announcement was received — The marriage ceremony — My first
visit to the Empress at the Tuileries — A little incident — The Empress
does not forget her old friends — Pepa — The character of Eugenie de
Montijo unchanged by her elevation to a throne — Criticism — The
fortune of the Imperial family — The demands upon the privy purse
— The generosity of the Empress — The first act after her engage-
ment— Her visits to the cholera hospitals — “ Pious, but not bigoted ”

— Her public liberalities — The house parties at Compiegne — The
Empress a lover of the things of the mind — The Suez Canal — The
character of the Empress described by the Emperor— The Empress
not exempt from the defects of her qualities 80

CHAPTER IV

THE IMPERIAL COURT — THE WAR OF THE REBELLION

The Imperial Court — “ Paris the heaven of Americans ” — The banquet to
General John A. Dix — The American colony — How things have
changed — Parisian society in those days— Causes of its decadence —

Its “ exoticism ” — Sunt lacrimct rerum — The War of the Rebellion —

The Emperor not unfriendly to our Government — Mr. William M.
Dayton — How I kept the Emperor informed with respect to the pro-
gress of the war — The Roebuck incident — The Emperor is urged to
recognise the Southern Confederacy — How he came to suggest
friendly mediation — He sends for me to come to Compiegne —The
interview and what came of it — My visit to America — Interviews
with Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward — Visit to City Point — Conversations
with General Grant — His opinion of “ political generals ’’ — The
Emperor’s first words on my return — Why the Imperial Government
did not recognise the Southern Confederacy — The Mexican Expedi-
tion— The assassination of Mr. Lincoln — The United States Sanitary
Commission — The Empress’s letter to me 127

CHAPTER V

THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCE

The importance of the works of Napoleon III. — He created modern
Paris ; its parks and waterworks ; its public buildings — Provincial

xvi

Contents

PAGE

cities reconstructed — Roads and railways extended — Credit institu-
tions founded — Commercial treaties made — The increase of capital ;
of trade — The interest of the Emperor in the lodgings of artisans and
the sanitation of cities — What the Emperor did for agriculture — His
interest in the welfare of the industrial classes — How he came to the
relief of the people at the time of the great inundations — The Expo-
sition of 1867 — A dreadful picture of moral corruption — The greatest
work of Napoleon III 174

CHAPTER VI

THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR OF 1870-71

A visit to Saint Cloud — The candidature of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern
— The Duke de Gramont— The Emperor not inclined to war— The
opinion of the Empress — The Emperor’s bad counsellors — General
Lebceuf — An incident — Public feeling — -I propose to establish an
Ambulance — The service it subsequently rendered — The declaration
of war — Enthusiasm of the people — The excitement in Paris — The
anxiety of the Emperor — He felt that France was not prepared for the
war — His interest in the army — The condition sine qua non — Words
not to be forgotten — The departure of the troops — The Empress is
appointed Regent — The Emperor leaves Saint Cloud for Metz —
Misgivings 193

CHAPTER VII

THE FRENCH ARMY — SEDAN AND BISMARCK

The efforts of the Emperor to increase the strength of the army — His
proposals are denounced by the Opposition— -Favre— Thiers— Magnin
— Jules Simon — State of the army when war was declared — On
arriving at Metz the Emperor finds nothing ready — Misled by incor-
rect reports — A fair example — The situation becomes more and more
difficult — A change of commanders — Sedan — A vivid account of the
battle written by the Emperor— Further resistance impossible— The
flag of truce— The letter of the Emperor to the King of Prussia-
General de Wimpfen meets von Moltke and Bismarck at Donchery—
Interview between the Emperor and Bismarck described by
Bismarck in a letter to the King of Prussia— Two letters—" Conneau ” 235

xvii A*

Contents

CHAPTER VIII

THE FALL OF THE SECOND EMPIRE

PAGE

Effects in Paris of the news of the first reverses — “ Nous sommes trains ”

— The resignation of the Ministry — General de Palikao — A new
Ministry is formed — General Trochu is appointed Military Governor
— An unsuccessful mission — The announcement of the disaster of
Sedan — A Cabinet Council is convoked — General Trochu is requested
to come to the palace — The night of September 3rd at the Tuileries —

The morning of September 4th — The council of Ministers — A deputa-
tion is sent to the Empress — Her Majesty is advised to resign — Her
reply— The proposition of M. Thiers — The Palais-Bourbon is
invaded by the mob — The conduct of General Trochu — The
Emperor pronounces it “ flagrant treason ” — The simple facts — A
pandemonium — The last session of the Senate — “ I yield to force” . 280

xvi n

List of Illustrations

The Empress Eugenie

From an engraving by Jouanin, after Winterhalter’s portrait.

. Frontispiece

Dr. Thomas W. Evans

From a photograph by Ch. Reutlinger taken about 1875.

Facing p. i

Mademoiselle Eugenie — Comtesse de Teba

From a photograph taken in 1852.

„ 9°

The Empress Eugenie

From a photograph taken about 1865.

„ 129

General Reille Presenting to King William
the Letter of Napoleon III. .

From a photograph of the painting by A. Von Werner.

„ 265

Napoleon III. ....

From his last photograph taken by W. and D. Downey in 1872.

„ 277

The Empress Eugenie

From a photograph taken by W. and D. Downey in 1871.

» 3°°

XIX

i

DR. THOMAS W. EVANS.

From a photograph by Ch. Rout linger taken about 1 S7'5.

To face p. 1.

Recollections of

the Second French Empire

CHAPTER I

THE BEGINNINGS OF A FRIENDSHIP

How my acquaintance with Prince Louis Napoleon began — His life
at the Elysee — The day before the coup cTEtat — Dr. Conneau
and Charles Thelin — The Emperor’s way of bestowing favours
— A cross of the Legion of Honour — A diamond pin — My pro-
fessional relations with the Emperor — Dentistry in France in
1847 — The wife of a dentist — My position at Court — “ Have
you nothing to ask ? ” — The courage of the Emperor —
The bombs of Orsini — The Emperor’s generous nature —
A debt of honour — A Dreyfus case — Fran£ois Arago — The
Emperor’s philanthropy — “ L’Empereur des Ouvriers ” — The
Emperor’s amiability — Abd-el-Kader.

IN November, 1847, I came to Paris with my
wife, having accepted an invitation from Cyrus
S. Brewster, an American dentist of repute then
living in Paris, to associate myself with him pro-
fessionally.

In France everything was then quiet. M. Guizot,
the Prime Minister, ruled the country with an authority
that was absolute. The politicians, of course, were,
some of them, clamoring for “ Reform,” and all of
vol. 1. 1 b

The Second French Empire

them playing the eternal game of seesaw on every
question of public concern that might serve their
personal or party interests. But the people were
apparently uninterested or asleep. It seems that
they were just on the point of waking up. Three
months later, in February, 1848, the Tuileries were
invaded by the Paris mob, and Louis Philippe, having
cut off his whiskers, under the cover of an old hat
and a shabby coat, made his escape from the palace.
The Republic was now proclaimed and the march
of events was rapid — the opening of National work-
shops, the election to the Constituent Assembly in
April ; and then the barricades and the bloody days
of June, with the shootings and transportations of the
apostles of Communism — in rehearsal for the final
scene in the great drama of 1871.

On the 23rd of September, 1848, Prince Louis Napo-
leon, having been elected a member of the National
Assembly, left London, and the following day arrived
in Paris. Less than three months afterward he was
elected President of the French Republic, and es-
tablished his residence at the Palace of the Elysee
in the Faubourg St. Honore, where he remained
until the 24th of February, 1852, when he removed to
the Tuileries, and occupied the apartments from which
Louis Philippe had fled, exactly four years before —
on the 24th of February, 1848.

My acquaintance with the Prince began very soon
after he came to Paris. He had not been long at the
Elysde when he sent a message to Dr. Brewster,
stating that he would like to have him come to the

2

The Beginnmgs of a Friendship

palace, if convenient, as he had need of his services.
It so happened, when the message came, that Dr.
Brewster was ill and unable to respond to this call
himself. It fell to me, therefore, by good fortune,
to take his place professionally, and to visit the Prince.
And there it was, at the Elys^e, that I first saw him.

He received me very kindly, without the least
intimation that he had expected to see some one else,
so that I soon felt entirely at my ease. I found that
a slight operation was necessary, which, when made,
gave him great relief. On my leaving, the Prince
thanked me most cordially, commending me for the
“ gentleness ” of my manner of operating, and ex-
pressed a wish to see me the next day. I then saw
him again, professionally ; and, from that time, up to
the day of his death, I visited him often — sometimes
as often as twice a week ; for the relations between us
were not entirely of a professional nature, having very
soon become friendly, and confidential even.

During his residence at the Elysde, I was, on several
occasions, invited to come in the evening and take tea
with him, and some of his intimate associates, at a
house in the Rue du Cirque, where he was a frequent

visitor. This house, in which Madame H lived,

was to him easy of access — a gate in the wall, en-
closing the garden of the palace, opening on the street
close to the house. There, free from the restraint of
official surroundings, the Prince-President loved to
take a cup of tea, or to sit during the whole, evening
sipping a cup of coffee, or smoking a cigarette, his
black dog, a great favourite with him, sometimes at
his feet and sometimes on his knee.

3

7 7je Second French Empire

An excellent listener to the conversation of others
— it was with the greatest interest that we all listened
to him, when he chose to speak. However light the
subject, his remarks were never commonplace, but
were often weighty and always bore the impress of
originality. There were times when he exhibited rare
powers of description and a delicate but lively apprecia-
tion of the humorous side of things ; and other times
— the subject moving him — when his earnest and
kindly words and the sympathetic tones of his voice
were irresistibly seductive, and we — hardly knowing
why, whether we were captivated by the personality
of the speaker or surprised at the height to which he
carried his argument — in wondering admiration sat in
silence under the spell of the Charmer. He talked
with the utmost freedom of his past life in Germany,
in Switzerland, in Italy, in England ; of Napoleon
and of government in general ; but spoke rarely and
with more reserve about the French politics of the
day. And he liked to hear others talk of their own
lives, of the subjects that personally interested them,
of their occupations and amusements during the day,
and to have the conversation go on as if in a family
circle, without the restraints of etiquette. He also
liked, on these occasions, to listen to simple music —
at the same time admitting that music in general he
did not like. He seemed to seek the satisfactions of a
home, and the pleasure of being surrounded by a few
but intimate friends. Madame Henriette, as she was
called familiarly, had living with her no family or
relative except a sister — a most beautiful creature,
artless but full of grace, whose head was one of the

4

The Beginnings of a Friendship

finest I ever saw on a woman’s shoulders. As
Madame de S6vignd said of Mademoiselle de Grignan,
she was une creature choisie et distinguee. Here I met
MM. Fleury, Persigny, Mocquard, Edgar Ney, and
some others. But only a very few of the persons in
the entourage of the Prince were ever invited into this
little society.

The relations of the Prince to the beautiful and

devoted Madame H have been a subject of

censure and even of scandal. The irregularity of the
situation he himself recognised ; but he was too kind-
hearted to break away from it without some strong
and special motive. And then, to use his own words :

“ Since, up to the present time, my position has
prevented me from getting married ; since in the midst
of all the cares of the Government I have, unfortu-
nately, in my country from which I have been so long
absent, neither intimate friends nor the attachments of
childhood, nor relatives to give me the comforts of a
home, I think I can be pardoned an affection that
harms no one, and which I have never sought to
make public.” 1

I was, at first, asked by the Prince to go to this
house for the purpose of seeing Madame H pro-

fessionally, he remarking to me that he would consider
it a favour if I would do so, since were she to go to
my office, her presence there might give rise to com-
ment. Thus it happened that subsequently I became

one of Madame H ’s occasional evening visitors

as well as her professional adviser.

The Prince was very fond of walking in the morning
1 M. Odilon Barrot “ Memoirs,” tome iii. p. 361.

5

The Second French Empire

in the grounds of the Elysee palace, sometimes alone,
but more frequently with Fleury or Persigny or some
other member of his official household. Several times,
when he had something special to say to me, or
inquiries to make, he invited me to take a turn with
him in the garden, usually speaking in English, for he
liked to talk in English whenever he could ; and it
often served him well when he wished to converse and
did not care to have some one, who might be near
him, understand what was said. It was during this
quiet life at the Elysee that our relations became
intimate and that a lasting friendship was formed.

At this time — while President of the Republic — the
Prince had few intimate friends, and but very few
acquaintances. A stranger to the French people when
he came to Paris, he did not seek at once to make
new acquaintances ; moreover, his power as President
being limited, and generally supposed to be temporary,
did not attract to the Elysde a crowd of interested
friends — supplicants for favours. If he was sometimes
oppressed with a sense of political isolation and loneli-
ness, and more than once was heard to say sadly, “ I
do not know my friends, and my friends do not know
me,” it was not without its compensations, among
which the greatest was the liberty it gave him to form
his own friendships, or, perhaps rather, the opportunity
it afforded him to watch dispassionately the drift of
public opinion in France, and discover the means of
realising les iddes Napoldoniennes — the supreme object
of his ambition. For it was in the seclusion of his
Cabinet de travail — his study — that he always seemed
to take his greatest pleasure.

6

The Beginnings of a Friendship

These were happy days for the Prince. He had
attained, at least in part, to what he had always
believed would come — that he would be called upon
to rule in one way or another, as his uncle did, the
French people. To him I am positive this was a
certainty, the realisation of which he considered to be
only a question of time. It never seemed in any way
to surprise him that events had so shaped his career
as to bring him where he was at the moment ; and it
was his calm belief, at this time, that his increasing
popularity and power were only a part of that of which
he was also sure to see the accomplishment. If he
referred to the significant or exciting political events of
the day, it was with quiet ease, never himself excited,
never complaining, avoiding exaggeration, and never
showing the slightest anxiety or personal concern.

This countenance of extreme placidity which the
Prince always wore, seems to me now, if it did not at
the time, all the more remarkable when I remember
the unsettled and very stormy political situation in
France during the years of his Presidency — the extra-
ordinary violence of the Socialists and Red Repub-
licans— the revolutionary manifestations in the streets
of Paris, Marseilles, and Lyons ; and, finally, the
reaction and the plots against his Government laid by
the powerful Royalist combination in the Legislative
Assembly.

On the morning preceding the night of the coup
cT Etat, I was sent for to see the Prince at the Elysee.
I noticed that his manner and conversation were more
than ordinarily affectionate. There were moments
when he appeared to be thoughtful, as if there was

7

The Second French Empire

something on his mind that he wished to speak about,
and yet did not. When I was leaving, he went with
me to the door of his study, where I had been con-
versing with him, and then, placing his arm within my
own, walked with me through the adjoining room.
He knew that great events were about to happen, but
this knowledge did not ruffle his serenity or change in
the least the suavity of his voice or the complaisance
of his address. That evening there was a reception
at the palace, and a crowd of people, his cousin, the
Duchess of Hamilton, being present among the rest.
No one had the slightest suspicion of the blow that
was soon to fall ; but just as the duchess, with whom
the Prince was talking, was about to leave, he said to
her in the very quietest way, as he gave her his hand,
with a kindly smile, “ Mary, think of me to-night.”
Something in the tone of his voice, rather than the
words, impressed her strongly. What could he mean ?
The next morning, when the duchess awoke, she
learned what was in the mind of the Prince when he
bade her good-night, and was amazed at his extra-
ordinary self-control, his seeming impassiveness, and
the gentleness of his manner at such a critical, decisive
moment in his career.

And this manner never changed. Whether Prince-
President, or Emperor, in victory or defeat, he was
always the same ; and he was also the same in all his
relations and intercourse with men, both in official and
private life. In return, every one who knew him
personally, was drawn towards him by a strong senti-
ment of sympathy and affection. The devotion of his
followers after the affairs of Strasbourg and Boulogne

8

The Beginnings of a Friendship

bears witness to this. In those early days, all who
knew him intimately wished to follow him.

The two persons who stood nearest to him, and
who were attached to him the longest, were Dr.
Conneau and Charles Thdlin. Conneau was a pro-
Ugd of his mother, Queen Hortense, who, on her
death-bed, made him promise never to forsake her son
— a promise he observed with the most pious fidelity.
Thdlin was in the domestic service of the Queen ; he
was at first Prince Louis’ valet, afterward a head
servant, and, finally, the treasurer of the Imperial
privy purse. Not only were these two men devoted
to the interests of the Prince, but they continued to be
faithful and unselfish in ways that are rare. When
the Prince became Emperor — and their positions were
necessarily changed, having everything at their com-
mand, if they had wished it — they showed no ambition
to be anything more than the true friends of their early
companion and master.

Dr. Conneau desired nothing better than to be,
as he had been of old, the confidant of his inmost
thoughts. He opened and read his letters. He also
read the despatches, as well as articles from the news-
papers, which were sent to his Majesty from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs ; for at that Ministry there
were secretaries whose business it was to read the
: different English, Spanish, and Italian newspapers —
in fact, to examine all the principal papers from foreign
1 countries, and prepare a rdsum'e of their contents for
the Emperor’s use. Dr. Conneau was often the one
to see these summaries first, and read them to his
Majesty, using his own discretion and passing over

9

The Second French Empire

unimportant matters. He was also entrusted with the
distribution of the Emperor’s private charities ; and
for this purpose from fifty to one hundred thousand
francs were placed in his hands every month. Dr.
Conneau held the official position of principal physician
attached to the Emperor’s person ; but the Emperor
regarded him as his fidns Achates.

“ Charles,” as he was always called, enjoyed the
Emperor’s confidence in an equal degree. Dr. Con-
neau and Charles Thelin had been with the Emperor
almost constantly for so many years, in the same
countries, that they had learned to speak the same
languages that he did, and had acquired many of his
habits. I was often struck with the similarity even in
the voices of these persons, especially in the softness
of their tones, and with the quiet simplicity of each in
speaking, at all times. Indeed, they grew to be very
much alike in many things. The Emperor never had
any thought of his own private interests or of increas-
ing his personal fortune ; and the same indifference
was shown by Dr. Conneau and Charles Thelin ; for,
with all kinds of opportunities to grow rich, by taking
advantage of their knowledge of impending war or
peace, the laying-out of new streets — in a word, of a
thousand things that would make the Stock Exchange
or values go up or down — at the end of the Empire
they were left penniless, having lived on their modest
salaries from the very first day they entered into the
service of Prince Louis, devoted to their special duties,
and without a thought of accumulating wealth.

Not long after the Emperor’s death Dr. Conneau
came to see me. He told me the only thing he

io

The Beginnings of a Friendship

possessed in the world was a collection of Bibles —
in several hundred languages or dialects, including
some rare copies — which then lay in a heap on the
floor of a stable, as he no longer had a place of his
own in which to keep them. He said it grieved him
greatly to part with this collection, the making of
which had given him so much pleasure ; but that it
distressed him still more to see it treated as it had
been, and in danger of being destroyed ; and that I
would render him a great service if I would take it off
his hands and save it. This I at once agreed to do.
And when the tears came into the eyes of the kindly
old man I felt in my own heart that it was a blessed
thing indeed to be able to help a friend in time of
need.

i

The Emperor had an exquisite way of bestowing
favours. When he made a present, he often gave it
the appearance of paying a debt.

On one occasion which I remember, he engaged a
young man to make some researches for a literary
work he was interested in. The young man was to
have a certain sum paid to him, monthly, in advance.
The next day the Emperor handed him double the
sum that had been fixed upon. Thinking a mistake
had been made, he said, “ Sire, you have given me
too much.” “Oh, no,” replied the Emperor; “you
forget that you began your services yesterday — a
month ago." This was his way of disguising a gift.

After living in Paris a number of years, wishing to
go to the United States, I informed his Majesty that
it was my intention to return home soon to see my

The Second French Empire

family and country. I had a strong attachment to
the relatives and friends I had left in America, and,
more especially, I wished to see my mother, as she
was advancing in years, and I told him that I felt it a
duty to go to her. He said he perfectly understood
my wish to return home and my strong desire to see
my mother, and that he was glad I felt as I did. He
then asked me when I proposed going. On my
telling him the date of sailing I had fixed upon, he
said, “ Come and see me again before you go,”
naming a day. As he was at the Palace of Saint
Cloud I was to go there. Upon my arrival, at the
time appointed, he received me in the room which he
occupied as a study, on the floor below the apartments
of the Empress. After some conversation he led me
up the private staircase, and opened the door into
the first room, which was a boudoir, or ante-chamber,
giving access to her Majesty’s apartments. Imme-
diately upon my entering this room with him, for the
purpose of saying, as he said, goodbye to the
Empress, he took from the table a case containing
the cross of a Knight of the Legion of Honour, and,
as I stood before him, he fixed the cross to the lapel
of my coat, saying, “ We want you to go home a
Knight.” He then opened the door leading into the
room where the Empress was, and said, as she came
forward, “ The Empress wishes to be the first to con-
gratulate the Chevalier ; ” and he added, “ I hope
your friends in America will understand how much
you are appreciated by us. You will promise us to
come back again, won’t you ? ” This was said in that
tone of voice and with an expression in his eyes, full

12

The Beginnings of a Friendship

of kindness and goodness, which it is quite impossible
to describe. His manner under such circumstances
was really irresistible. I had many occasions to feel
its charm.

I have sometimes thought that the Emperor owed
his singular power of winning the esteem and affection
of those with whom he had spoken, although but
once, to the softness of his voice and to a peculiar
hesitancy of manner — especially when opening a
conversation — which might be taken for diffidence,
the most delicate form of flattery that one man
can offer to another.

When misfortunes befell his friends, or bereave-
ments came to those who were near to him, the
Emperor never failed to console them with kind words
or to remember them by acts of gracious consideration.

On the occasion of the loss of the steamer Arctic ,
in the autumn of 1854 — when my wife and I were
informed that a dear sister and her husband and
child, who were returning to New York from a
visit they had paid us, had all three perished —
the Emperor, and the Empress also, expressed for
us their deepest sympathy.

One morning the Emperor said to me, after re-
ferring to this painful event, that he wished to
give me, as a token of his regard, a keepsake that
I might perhaps doubly esteem. He then handed
to me a case within which he said there was a
diamond that had been taken from the hilt of a
sword which had belonged to his uncle, Napoleon,
and had been worn by him, and which he had
caused to be reset in a scarf-pin.

13

■«

The Second French Empire

This pin I rarely wore, for the diamond was not
only a remarkably fine one, but I prized it highly
as a souvenir and was afraid of losing it. When, in
April, 1855, Emperor and Empress went to
England to visit the Queen, Mrs. Evans and I
also went to London, where we occupied rooms
at Fenton’s Hotel, St. James Street. The day
after our arrival, having occasion to be present at
a royal function, I decided to wear the beautiful
pin I had brought with me. And this I did. But,
either before I left the hotel or after my return, I
met an American gentleman who was stopping in
the house, with whom I probably had some con-
versation concerning the diamond pin, although at
the time the conversation seemed so insignificant

O

that I could never recall it. I have always believed,
however, that he related the history of the jewel —
perhaps in the coffee-room. On going to my room
to change my dress, I placed the pin in its dcratt,
or case, and, rolling this up very carefully, together
with some French paper-money, in several pocket-
handkerchiefs, stowed the package at the bottom of
my satchel. A few days later I returned to the
Continent by the way of Belgium and Holland.
On arriving at The Hague I took the package
from the satchel, opened the case, and found within
it — nothing. The money had not been taken, neither
had some jewels that my wife had put in the satchel,
but the diamond pin had vanished. The mystery
of its disappearance has never been solved. That it
was stolen I have no doubt. I am also convinced that
its historical character was not foreign to the theft.

r

The Beginnings of a Friendship

Being extremely anxious to recover the pin, I
reported my loss to the police, and caused an
active search to be made for it, and for the thief ;
but the search was of no avail. Nothing was ever
heard of the pin, or how it disappeared. I felt so
badly about it that I never spoke to the Emperor
of my loss. Years passed, and the loss of the
diamond pin had ceased to trouble me.

One morning in the month of May, 1859, a day
or two before the Emperor was to leave Paris for
the seat of war in Northern Italy, he sent for me
to come and see him. On being introduced into
his presence, I found him sitting before his toilet-
table. Without changing his position, he began to
speak at once of the campaign he was about to
engage in, and of other matters, when, suddenly
turning partly round and looking me directly in the
face, he said : “ And so you lost the diamond pin
I gave you ? ”

“Yes, Sire,” I replied; and, greatly confused, I
was about to make some wretched apology for never
having spoken of it to him, when he said :

“ I knew it had been stolen from you, but it has
been found ” — taking at the same time from a drawer,
in the table before him, a case similar to the one
he had given me years before, with the same
Imperial crown in silver on the blue velvet.

“ Here,” he said, “ is the lost pin ; ” and, as I
opened the case to look at the jewel, he added
quietly, “ At least, it may in a measure replace the
other. I am going away. Keep this as a souvenir
of me.”

L

15

The Second French Empire

Surely no man ever had a more delicate and
delightful way of bestowing favours and recognising
the services of his friends.

It was one of my rules to ask of his Majesty no
personal favours. I never asked him even for a
photograph or an autograph. These things and many
others were given to me unasked and of his own free-
will, he alone judging when, and under what circum-
stances, or for what services a recompense should be
given.

Once at a large luncheon at the Palace of the
Tuileries, when there were many guests present,
although the occasion was unofficial, the Emperor —
who, I presume, during the morning had suffered
from the customary importunity of some of them —
— feeling in the humour, remarked in a clear voice to
a lady sitting at the end of the table : “ I have been
much occupied this morning with demands for every-
thing. By the by, Countess, I believe you are the
only one of the Court that has not asked me for some-
thing. Have you nothing to ask ? ”

“ No, Sire, nothing.” But after a moment she
added, “Yes, I have. My concierge has been asking
me to recommend him for the military medal, because
he fought in the Crimea and has not received it. If
your Majesty would kindly obtain the medal for him I
should be very glad.”

“The Emperor replied, “It is done. I had
observed that you never asked anything of me. I
believe you are the only one here — No,” he said,
turning to me, “ Evans has never asked of me
anything for himself.”

16

The Beginnings of a Friendship

My answer was, “ I hope your Majesty may always
be able to say so ; ” for I felt then as I do now that,
by his frequent remembrances and by his appreciation
of the services I had occasion to render him, I was
always most generously recompensed without my
seeking.

My professional relations with the Emperor began,
as I have already said, soon after he became President
of the Republic. He had extremely delicate teeth —
an inheritance from his mother, he told me ; and,
being more than usually sensitive to pain — this con-
dition of hypersesthesia, as Corvisart and Nelaton
termed it, was generalised and especially pronounced
towards the close of his life — he suffered greatly from
the least inflammation, and, in consequence, frequently
required my professional assistance. Moreover, he
was constitutionally inclined to haemorrhages, and,
when a child, nearly lost his life from the bleeding
which followed the extraction of a tooth. In this
instance he was saved by the watchful care of his
mother, who, in the night, having discovered the flow
of blood, put her finger on the gum and held it there
firmly until the bleeding stopped.

As I was commonly summoned to the Palace imme-
diately there was anything amiss about his mouth, I
generally succeeded in obtaining for him the relief he
sought. He hated to be hurt, and I was always very
careful not to hurt him when it was necessary to use
an instrument for any purpose. It was therefore only
natural, perhaps, that the Emperor should have grate-
fully recognised the immense relief from absolute

vol. i. 17 c

-

The Second Fre?ich Empire

torture which, on several occasions, I was fortunately
and most happily able to secure for him almost imme-
diately I saw him. But his appreciation of such
services was something more than personal. It was
not limited to me ; it reached out and included the
whole dental profession. He found the dental art to
be of great use to him, and, accordingly, had an
excellent opinion of dentists in general, and saw no
reason why they should not be as proud of their
specialty as the practitioners of any branch of
medicine or surgery.

If it was my privilege to render considerable pro-
fessional services to the Emperor, I was richly repaid
in many ways ; but more especially by the direct
support and encouragement he gave me in the
practice of my art, and the social consideration he
accorded to me, and, through me, to my profession.
Indeed, the immense importance of this can hardly be
understood by one not acquainted with the character
of the men who practised dentistry when I came to
Paris, and the contempt with which they were spoken
of and regarded. Those persons who made it their
business to treat diseases of the teeth were ranked
with barbers, cuppers, and bleeders, just as, a hundred
years before, surgeons were, everywhere in Europe.
Physicians and surgeons considered the care of the
teeth as unworthy of their attention and science ; the
rectification of those irregularities of dentition that
give rise to defects in speech, or disfigure the mouth,
they knew nothing about ; and extractions were left
to be performed by mountebanks at street corners, or
fakirs at fairs, where the howls of the victims were

18

The Beginnings of a Friendship

drowned by the beating of drums, the clash of
cymbals, and the laughter and applause of the
delighted and admiring crowd. This al fresco prac-
tice of dentistry was to me one of the most curious
and foreign features of street life in the old Paris
of 1847.

If the dentist was sent for to attend a patient he
was expected to enter the house by the back-stairs,
with the tailor and the butcher-boy and the other
purveyors to the establishment. The front-stairs were
for those only whose social standing gave them the
right to use them. Although it was never within my
own experience to be invited to go up the escalier de
service , it is not surprising that the low social standing
of dentists in general, at this period, should have been
made known to me in ways that sometimes left a
sting. But after a while these things ceased to
trouble me. In fact, after I had been in Paris a few
years, I seldom heard, or overheard, a word in dis-
paragement of my profession. An exception, how-
ever, to this experience may be worth mentioning.

At a ball given at the Palace of the Tuileries, in
1857, to which Mrs. Evans and myself had been
invited, we overheard a conversation which took
place so near to us that very little of it was lost.

“ Who is that woman ? ” said one lady to another —
“she is so delicate and ladylike — she looks like an
American.” “Yes, she is,” was the reply; “and
only think — she is the wife of a dentist! How
dreadful ! ”

A few minutes later, the Emperor approached us
and shook hands with us both.

19

The Second French Empire

“ And who is the gentleman to whom the Emperor
is now speaking so cordially ? ” again inquired the
lady first mentioned. “ Oh, that is Evans, the
dentist, the husband of the woman ; he was pointed
out to me last week at the Cowleys’ ; they say he
is very clever and that the Emperor thinks very
highly of him ; his manners appear to be good.
Those American dentists, it seems, are something
wonderful.”

Not long after I received a visit from both of
these ladies, who wished to consult me professionally ;

and one of them, the Countess de L , who is still

living, became one of my warmest personal friends.

I was young and ambitious when I came to Paris,
and as an American citizen I had never thought it would
be necessary for me to feel ashamed of myself socially,
or that I was about to be deprived of the privileges
and civilities usually conceded to the practitioners of
the liberal arts and professions The Emperor quickly
saw how I felt about the position I was to hold in
his immediate entourage , in view of my professional
relations to him. And since he was not disposed to
recognise distinctions of any kind among men, except
such as were determined by intelligence, or personal
accomplishments, or special abilities, I was very soon
admitted to the Elysee officially, on a footing of
equality with doctors of medicine, surgeons, university
professors and men of science in general. When the
Court was established, I received my appointment of
“ Surgeon Dentist,” and in the same form and on the
same terms as the other doctors and surgeons in
the “ Service de Sanffi ” attached to the “ Maison

20

The Beginnings of a Friendship

de l’Empereur.” My Court dress was the gold-em-
broidered special uniform worn by every member
of the medical staff. We all received the same
compensation.

I was the only dentist at the Court of the Tuileries;
and the Emperor was most kind and considerate to
me on all occasions, in public as well as in private.
Once having a standing at the Imperial Court I was
enabled to be received at other courts ; and there are
few, if any, in Europe where I have not been at some
time a guest.

I am sure that the consideration which has been
shown to me by nearly all the royal families of
Europe, whether visiting them professionally or
otherwise, has been of very great service to me
personally ; and I am equally sure, but still more
pleased to believe, that my profession has been
benefited and honoured also by the numerous
Imperial and Royal attentions and honours I have
received, during the nearly fifty years that I have
practised the art of dentistry in Europe.

Sensitive as the Emperor was to physical pain,
no man faced danger more bravely or more calmly.
The courage that he displayed at Strasbourg, at
Boulogne, and at Sedan, is a matter of history ; so
also is the extraordinary self-possession, at a most
critical moment, that enabled him to effect his escape
from the fortress at Ham.

I saw him soon after the cowardly attempt to kill
him and the Empress, made by Orsini, in front of
the Opera House, on the evening of January 14,

21

1 "he Second French Empire

1858. The bombs had killed several persons out-
right and wounded one hundred and fifty-six others.
The carriage in which he was riding was wrecked,
and one of the horses killed. The Emperor’s hat
had been pierced with a projectile, and the Empress’
dress spattered with blood ; but by a miracle, as it
were, their Majesties escaped untouched. Descend-
ing from their carriage, calm and self-possessed, in
the darkness — for the explosion had extinguished
the gaslight — and in the midst of the cries and the
rush of the panic-stricken crowd, they pushed their
way on to the Opera House, where, when they ap-
peared in the Imperial loge , they were greeted by the
audience with tumultuous applause. The perform-
ance— “ Marie Stuart,” with a ballet representing the
assassination of Gustavus III., King of Sweden —
was not stopped ; and their Majesties remained in
the house until its close.

At midnight they returned to the Tuileries.

When the report of this attempt to assassinate the
Emperor reached me, I was about to go to the
English Embassy, where I had been invited by Lady
Cowley. As is usually the case in times of great public
excitement, the facts were exaggerated. I was told
that the Emperor and Empress had both been killed.
Stunned by the news, it was some time before I could
realise the situation. It then occurred to me that the
Tuileries might be attacked and that the young Prince
Imperial might perhaps be in danger. My carriage
was at the door, and I drove at once to the palace,
where I learned that their Majesties had not been
killed. I saw Miss Shaw, however, and told her that

22

The Beginnings of a Friendship

I had come to take her and the “ baby,” as she called
the little Prince, if there should be any fear for his
safety, over to the British Embassy, where I was
sure “ dear Lady Cowley ” would be only too pleased
to protect him. But it was very soon evident that
the occupants of the palace were in no danger. Not
long after I arrived Lord Cowley, together with other
representatives of the Diplomatic Corps and a
number of high officials, came to the Tuileries to
congratulate the Emperor and the Empress on their
fortunate escape.

When their Majesties entered the salon , where we
had all assembled, I was surprised to see that the
terrible tragedy they had witnessed, and of which they
alone were the intended victims, had in no way
visibly affected the absolute self-command and habitual
serenity of the Emperor ; and that the Empress
thanked, with her accustomed dignity and grace and
the sweetest of smiles, those who had come to tell her
how happy they were to know that she had met with
no harm.

But the Empress soon hurried to the room of the
young Prince to see her “ darling ” ; and it was only
then, when she had clasped him in her arms, that she
gave way to emotion.

The Emperor related to us some of the particulars
of the affair, without showing the least excitement.
He deplored the loss of life, and the sorrow and
suffering it had occasioned, and observed that every
one had reason to be thankful that the number of the
killed was not greater. Pointing to the hole torn in
his hat, he turned towards me and said very calmly :

23

The Second French Empire

“This was done by an English slug — that bomb
was made in England.”

I saw him again the next morning. He then spoke
of the event as if it were really something that con-
cerned others rather than himself — as if it suggested
to him no personal danger — as if he felt perfectly sure
that his time had not yet come. And the same day
he drove out with the Empress, going the whole
length of the boulevards, with only a single attendant.

Again his self-control was put to a severe test at
the time of the great review held at Longchamps, in
1867, in honour of the Czar, when Berezowski, the
Pole, made his desperate attempt to assassinate
Alexander II. Berezowski fired point-blank at the
Czar, the two sovereigns being seated side by side
in their carriage. The ball, striking the nose of the
horse of an equerry, M. Firmin Rainbeaux, dashed
the blood in their faces and passed between them,
The Emperor immediately arose and waved his hat
to show the people that nobody was hurt ; and then,
resuming his seat, turned to the Czar and said
jokingly: “We have now been under fire together.”

Paris was greatly excited by this affair ; but it
apparently affected in no way either the Czar or the
Emperor. They moved about among the people as
usual, and freely, both by day and by night. I saw
the Emperor soon after this wretched attempt to
murder a foreign sovereign who had come to visit the
Exposition, and thus pay homage to the nation. In
speaking of this incident, he exhibited his habitual
composure, and appeared not to have been in the
slightest degree impressed with a sense of the danger

24

The Beginnings of a Friendship

he had escaped. His only feeling seemed to be one
of regret that such an experience should have
happened in Paris to a guest of France. “ I am
sorry,” said he, “ that our hospitality should have
been so outraged.”

Unostentatious and full of charm, how little the out-
side world knew the generous and affectionate nature
underlying the personality which it considered cold
and calculating !

The sympathy of the Emperor for any one in dis-
tress was so great that often it was almost impossible
for him to resist the generous impulse of the moment.
More than one person has owed everything in life —
position, fortune, honour even — to being able to make
a direct appeal to his Majesty ; as, for instance, the
young officer of the Imperial Guard who had ruined
himself one night at cards. Having left the table
without a sou, and twenty thousand francs in debt,
this young man, with dishonour staring him in the
face, went straight to the Emperor, and told him the
whole story, saying that he saw but one sure way out
of his trouble, and that was to kill himself. The
Emperor listened calmly until he had finished ; and
then, without uttering a word, opened a drawer in
his bureau, and taking out twenty one-thousand-franc
notes, he handed them to the young man, saying as
he did so, “The life of one of my soldiers is worth
more than the money I have given you, but I am
not sufficiently rich to be able to redeem them all at
that price.” Then, with a pleasant smile, he added :
“ You can go now — but don’t do it again.”

25

The Second French Empire

And if credence can be given to another story,
whispered about at the time, but afterward told
openly, the goodness of heart of Napoleon III.
sometimes led him to be as inconsiderate of the
letter of the military code as was our great President
Abraham Lincoln.

The case was one of espionage — a Dreyfus case, in
point of fact. A young artillery officer of distinction,
and, moreover, a sort of protdgd of the Emperor,
was charged— so it is said — with furnishing the
Austrian Government with a description of a rifled
cannon which had been constructed under the
Emperor’s personal supervision. This was just
before France and Italy declared war against
Austria. The case having been fully investigated,
the incriminating facts and circumstances were re-
ported to the Emperor, who listened to what was
said in silence. He requested, however, that the
lieutenant should be brought before him the next
day. As soon as the accused officer was ushered
into his Majesty’s presence, he was seized with a
nervous paroxysm that made him speechless and was
pitiful to witness. Napoleon III., standing before
him, and looking calmly in his face, said in the
quietest manner possible, “ It is true, then — you are
a traitor ! ” As the young man made no reply, but
began to sob, the Emperor continued, “ Stop your
crying, sir — listen to me ! Out of respect for the
honour of the army, and inasmuch as the criminal
act you were about to commit has, very fortunately,
not been carried out, I pardon you. Having once
loved you, this is my sad duty. Furthermore, I do

26

The Beginnings of a Friendship

not wish that any one should be able to say that
a French officer has betrayed his country. There
will be no scandal ; and for you there will be, at the
same time, no punishment. But, from this hour, you
are no longer a soldier. Hand to me your resig-
nation immediately and I will send it to the Minister
of War.”

The lieutenant wrote his resignation on the spot
and gave it to the Emperor, who, taking it without
a word, walked to his desk to resume the work upon
which he was then engaged.

As the story goes, when the young man left the
Emperor’s cabinet, the officer who had him in charge
said to him, “Well, his Majesty has been very
indulgent to you — you will neither be shot nor
degraded. You are satisfied, are you not?” The
young man making no reply, he continued, “ But
you understand, sir, what the pardon of the
Emperor must mean — for you?” Then, looking up
into the face of the officer and speaking for the first
time, the young man said, “ Yes, sir.”

And that evening he blew his brains out.

So the honour of the army was saved. But I am
quite sure it was never the intention of the Emperor
to have it saved in that way. It would have been
incompatible with one of the reasons assigned by him
for pardoning the offence committed, and contrary also
to his well-known abhorrence of all scandal. And the
story itself — is it true ? For, kind as the Emperor
always was, no man could be firmer or more in-
exorable than he, when dealing with subjects relating
to principles and public order.

2 7

The Second French Empire

But the story of the payment of the “ debt of
honour ” is authentic. And it may please the reader
to know that the twenty thousand francs were re-
turned to the Emperor, and that the young man not
only followed the advice given to him, but became,
afterward, one of the most brilliant and distinguished
officers in the French army.

The kindness and generosity of the Emperor were
not, however, the products of a passing emotion or
a commonplace feeling of good-fellowship, limited to
those who were brought into immediate relationship
with him, but arose from an elevated sentiment of
benevolence, of longanimity even, towards all men.
When the death of Francois Arago was announced,
although the great astronomer and physicist had been
one of his most uncompromising political enemies, the
Emperor directed that the Government should be
represented at the funeral by Marshal Vaillant, the
Grand Marshal of the palace, and he himself, per-
sonally, by an officier d' ordonnance, Baron Tascher
de la Pagerie. He was willing, at once, to efface
from his mind the depreciatory words that Arago had
uttered, words that the world itself would not long
remember, and to pay an immediate tribute to the
genius of the man whose name the nation was about
to place upon the walls of the Pantheon. And how
ready he was to honour the memory of Carnot ! how
ready to come to the relief of Lamartine, in his old
age and poverty ! And yet how small, even at the
time, was the recognition he received for these
generous acts. Strange as it may seem, there was
scarcely a newspaper that did not reproach him for

2S

The Beginnings of a Friendship

extending a helping hand to the author of “ Jocelyn.”
But the Emperor was willing to recognise the merits
of men who had stood aloof from him, and from whom
he had nothing to expect in return for his generous
appreciation of the services they had rendered to
their country. He took of events and of men a view
too broad and too impersonal ever to forget that he
was Emperor of all the French, or to refuse Imperial
homage to those persons who had conspicuously con-
tributed to the prosperity and glory of France — even
were they his bitterest enemies.

He wished to see France great and prosperous.
But the dream he cherished was that Europe and the
world might be at peace ; and his hope, his ambition
was that it might be his destiny to lay the foundations
of a future reign of justice among men. In 1854 he
said, “ France has no idea of aggrandisement ; I love
to proclaim it loudly, the time of conquests has passed
never to return, for it is not by extending the limits of
its territory that a nation is to be henceforth honoured
and to become powerful ; it is by making itself the
leader of generous ideas and by causing the sentiment
of right and justice to prevail everywhere.” And he
continued to say these things to the end of his life —
striving all the while to make real what he was pro-
foundly convinced ought to be governing principles
in a well-ordered State.

The policy for which he has been most severely
criticised, that of natural frontiers — the rectification of
boundaries which he believed to be necessary for the
permanent peace of Europe — was only one of the
ways in which his philanthropic feeling found expres-

29

The Second French Empire

sion. Indeed, there is something really pathetic in his
attitude at Saint Cloud, when, reluctantly yielding to
the advice of his Councillors and finally consenting to
the mobilisation of the troops, he said, “ If we should
succeed in this war, its most beneficent result will be
our ability to secure a general disarmament in
Europe.”

His philanthropy manifested itself in innumerable
ways, and in his dealings with every one, no matter
how humble his station in life. His grandeur never
weighed heavily with him. A democrat at heart, he
loved to talk with the common people — the soldier,
the peasant, the working man ; he was always willing
to listen to their complaints and ready to relieve them
when he could.

One day, when he was inspecting some buildings
that were being erected by his direction, an aide-
de-camp informed him that the workmen seemed to
be discontented. “ What is the matter ? ” said the
Emperor.

“Well,” replied the officer, after hesitating a
moment, “ they say that you and everybody about
you are drinking champagne, while beer is thought
to be good enough for them.”

The Emperor made no reply, but slowly and alone
walked forward, and, approaching a number of the
men who were standing together in a group, said,
“ Good morning, my friends.” Then, after a few
pleasant words, he continued, “ Ah, they have given
you beer, I see. Come, let us have a glass of
champagne ! ” And when the champagne, which he
then ordered, had been brought and the glasses of all

30

7 ‘‘he Beginnings of a Friendship

had been filled, calling out to the foreman, and touch-
ing glasses with him, he said, “ My best wishes,”
and, turning to the others, “Your good health, my
friends ! ”

All of this was done and said with such perfect ease
and naturalness, such entire sincerity, that it went
straight to the hearts of these men, who felt that the
Emperor was not like other emperors and kings, but
was, as they expressed it, “one of us.” And yet,
although approachable at all times and absolutely free
from haughtiness, when he was most familiar there
was in his manner a dignity which caused those with
whom he was speaking to understand that he was still
the Emperor.

Never was a ruler judged more falsely than
Napoleon III. He loved mankind, and was always
thinking of ways in which he could benefit the people
or make some one happy. On one occasion, after he
bad spoken of the condition of the labouring classes
I in France, and the measures that ought to be taken to
raise the standard of living among the people generally,
I ventured to say to him, “ Why ! your Majesty is
ilmost a Socialist, your sympathies are always with
:he poor ; their welfare would seem to concern you
more than anything else.”

“ It ought to,” he replied. Was he not worthy of
:he title given to him by the people — “ L Empereur
ies Ouvriers ” ?

But it must not be supposed that the Emperor,
deeply interested as he was in ameliorating the con-
dition of the poor, sought to find in fanciful specula-
cions and theories remedies for the want and suffering

o

31

The Second French Empire

which he deplored. “No amelioration of the lot of
the labouring classes is possible,” he said, “ except
under a firmly established government, and where
there is a sense of absolute social security. The
false idea is the doctrine that pretends to reach
this end by upsetting everything which exists, and
by the successful working of chimeras that have no
roots in the past, and whose future is hopeless.”

Ideas, principles — things that were impersonal and
enduring — were the concerns that preoccupied his
mind. It was the triumph of these that he strove
for ; and to which he easily subordinated every other
sentiment and impulse. He was always ready to
forget the harsh sayings of his political enemies ;
and if they were men of ability and distinction he
frequently took great pains to conciliate them and
to secure their services in the interests of the State,
and, if possible, their friendship as well. “ On
gouv&rne ,” said he, “ avec tin parti; on administre
avec des capacity.”

His idea was to establish a government of order
and justice in which the rights of every man should
be respected ; and one also in which the administra-
tive functions should be discharged by the most com-
petent, without regard to rank, or fortune, or privilege,
or social circumstances of any sort. And to this end
— to this supreme purpose — liberating himself from
every transient passion or previous prejudice, he
solicited the support of all the people, and strove to
keep the way to the highest offices and positions in
the Government open to all the talents.

It was by means of this conciliatory disposition, by

32

Fhe Begmnings of a Friendship

tact, by the charms of his personality, his conversa-
tion, his demeanour, that he subdued his political
enemies when he chanced to meet them, and brought
many of them finally to rally round him.

The Emperor has been bitterly denounced by his
political adversaries, who have applied to him nearly
every name in the vocabulary of ineptitude and of crime.
These names, however, are not to be taken seriously ;
they never were by those who uttered them. They
are not characterisations. They merely indicate the
state of mind of those who made use of them ; for,
as Paul Louis Courier has told us, “ imbecile,” “ rascal,”
“thief,” “assassin,” are in France the conventional
epithets which writers and speakers apply to a person
when they simply wish to say they do not agree with
him. But very few of the Emperor’s calumniators
have failed to recognise the amiable character of the
man ; and it is a fact, sufficiently curious to be re-
marked, that, so far as I know, not one of those
writers or “ chroniqueurs" who have seen fit to be
especially spiteful when speaking of the Empress,
has failed to accentuate the malice by extolling the
generous and noble qualities of the Emperor, and by
discharging him even of a large share of his official
responsibilities.

Indeed, whatever may be the judgment of con-
temporary France with respect to the merits or
shortcomings of the Imperial regime, or of the
Emperor himself, nothing is more certain than that
it would be extremely difficult at the present time
to find a personal enemy of Napoleon III. in the
country over which he once ruled.

vol. i. 33

D

The Second French Empire

I have had on many occasions the privilege of
listening to some of the most distinguished men in
Europe, when they have been speaking freely and
informally about the Emperor and his Court. While
the opinions of these persons were often at variance
in regard to matters relating to the policy of the
Imperial Government, they had only one opinion as
to the Emperor’s amiable character and the goodness
of his heart. His magnanimity, his forgetfulness of
injuries, his great kindness to the unfortunate, even
his political enemies, foreign as well as domestic, were
willing to admit ; although some of those who were
the beneficiaries of his generosity, and were indebted
to him for everything they possessed, afterward
proved singularly inappreciative of the indulgence and
favours that had been most liberally granted to them.

Not one of these was Abd-el-Kader, the famous
Emir of Algiers — that noble representative of the
Arab race who, after years of heroic resistance, having
surrendered to the French, on condition that he
should not be deprived of his liberty, in flagrant
violation of the terms of the capitulation was shut up
in prison at Amboise by the Government of Louis
Philippe. Nor did the Republic of 1848 have the
grace to release him, and thus make amends for a
breach of faith that dishonoured the army and was a
disgrace to the nation. But the very first act of Louis
Napoleon on obtaining Imperial power, in December,
1852, was to set Abd-el-Kader at liberty. Not only
did the Prince feel that it was shameful for a great
Government to fail to keep its promises to the weak,
but that to spare the vanquished was a principle

The Beginnings of a Friendship

dictated alike by considerations of public policy and
humanity. And so the Emir, having been set free,
was no longer treated like an enemy, but rather as a
brother ; for when he knelt before his benefactor to
thank him, the Emperor, taking him by the hand,
raised him up and embraced him ; and then gave him
a residence at Broussa, in Syria, and provided him
with attendants, and horses, and money, and every-
thing necessary to his comfort and his maintenance,
in keeping with his high rank and his splendid
military record.

When the Emir came to Paris not long after, he
was treated by the Emperor with the greatest con-
sideration. He and his Arab retinue had a place of
honour at every fete or military review, and were the
lions of the day.

Abd-el-Kader was deeply sensible of the kind atten-
tions and the honours he received during this visit
to the French capital. “ I never can forget,” he said,
“ what the Lord of Kings has done for me, Abd-el-
Kader, the son of Mahhi-el-Din. He is dearer to me
than are any of those whom I love — I was far away,
and he has brought me near to him. Others may
have rendered him greater service ; no one can have
for him an affection greater than mine.”

In 1855, Abd-el-Kader paid a second visit to Paris,
where he and his retinue of attendants were again
received officially, with the honours and the courtesy
due to princes. Wherever they went, the manly
bearing and the picturesque costumes of these swarthy
guests of the Emperor made them the observed of all
observers at the first of the great Paris Expositions.

35

i

The Second French Empire

While in the Capital, the Emir came to consult me
professionally. I saw him frequently — he visited me
even at my own house — and the distinction of the
man, and the story of his brave life and his fall from
power, interested me greatly. But his gratitude for
the favours shown him by the Emperor and the
Empress was something he always seemed to carry
very close to his heart.

“ Where I live,” he said, “ there are unhappily
frequent conflicts between the Mohammedans and the
Christians, and, if ever I should have the chance, I
shall be more Christian than the Christians, for I
have suffered and promised, and Abd-el-Kader never
lies.”

And his was no vain promise, for when the conflict
between the Druses and the Maronites broke out
afresh in Syria, in i860, Abd-el-Kader used his
powerful influence among his co-religionists to prevent
the massacre of Christians and to preserve peace.
Indeed, the Maronites would have been exterminated
but for his magnanimous protection.

That the famous son of Mahhi-el-Din never failed
to remember his own generous protector and bene-
factor— nor, indeed, any one who had rendered him a
service — I have in my possession an interesting proof.

He said to me one day, “ I cannot recompense you
for what you have done for me ; but I will give you
my portrait — and I will write beneath it my name.”
A pen having been brought to him, he then wrote a
number of lines in Arabic, of which the following is
a translation :

“ Praise be to God ! This is my portrait which I

3b

The Beginnings of a Friendship

have given to the Seigneur Evans, Doctor. I hope
that he will keep it.

“ When he has cured Kings, they have given him
Crosses as a recompense — but I — a poor man, I give
him my portrait ; and, judging from what I know of
his kindness of heart and his character, I am sure he
will be as pleased to receive this portrait as he has
been to receive the decorations that have been con-
ferred upon him by Kings.

“ I myself was once a Sultan — now I am but an
orphan, kindly picked up by the Emperor Napoleon III.,
may God glorify him.

“ Written by me, Abd-el-Kader, son of Mahhi-el-
Din, about the middle of the month of Moharram, 1272
(beginning of October, 1855).”

37

CHAPTER II

CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR

The mother of Louis Napoleon — The personal appearance of the
Emperor — His love of the country — “ He was a wonderful
landscape gardener He cared nothing for Art for art’s
sake — His utilitarianism — His domestic habits — He was an
able writer — He despised flattery — M. Duruy — The Emperor
disliked circumlocution — He was tenacious of his opinions, but
slow to form them — The sources of his information — The
Burlingame Mission — The Emperor’s extreme caution — An
illustration — The Emperor’s wit and humour — He was a peace-
maker— His imperturbability no mask — He was a forcible
speaker — His religion — His pride — His qualities the opposites
of our faults.

OUIS NAPOLEON was in more than one

sense the son of his mother. He was the

younger of Queen Hortense’s two (surviving) child-
ren ; and while the elder brother went at an early
age to live with his father, Louis Bonaparte, Louis
remained constantly with his mother until he entered
the University of Augsburg. The devotion of this
mother to her son — who a few years later was to
become her only son — was unbounded. It began
early, and ended only with her death.1 In him her

1 In her autobiography Queen Hortense writes : “ Mon fils etait
si faible que je pensais le perdre en naissant. II fallut le baigner
dans le vin, l’envelopper dans du coton pour le rappeler & la vie.”

38

Character of the Emperor

whole life was centred. To his education she dedi-
cated herself. She admired him and was proud of
him. “ What a generous nature ! ” she used to
exclaim. “ What a good and worthy young man ! ”
“ He was born to do great things.” And his letters
to “ Ma chere M avian ,” how full they are of filial
affection and respect !

The Emperor often spoke of his mother, of how
much he was indebted to her for her tender care when
a child, and for the wise counsel she gave him during
the years they lived together in exile. I doubt if he
ever regretted anything more than that his mother
did not live to see the realisation of hopes they had
cherished in common, and her son on the throne of
his uncle. Some of his very last days at Chislehurst
were spent in reading over the letters his mother had
written to him, and in reviving the memories of those
happy years of his life when, at her side, he learned
by heart the true story of Napoleon. And it is
undoubtedly to her that must be ascribed in a very
large measure the powerful impression the career of
Napoleon — with its astonishing accomplishments and
noble but unfulfilled purposes — made upon the mind
of the young Prince. “No one,” he used to say,
“ ever succeeded in describing Napoleon so well as
my mother.” And no one, perhaps, was so admirably
qualified to do this, for the mother of Napoleon III.
was not only “adorned with all the talents,” and
accomplished in nearly every art within the domain
of the imagination and of taste, but was a woman of
unusual intellectual power and spiritual insight. Nor
had any one examined more closely or understood

39

The Seco?id French Empire

better the character of Napoleon. It is not sur-
prising, therefore, that the lessons given by this
mother to this son in his earliest childhood and in
his youth, and especially those concerning his duties
to his family and his country, like those given by
Roman matrons to their children, formed the law and
the religion of Louis Napoleon. And this Queen
Hortense knew full well when she wrote in her last
will and testament the words, “ I have no political
counsel to give my son. I know that he recognises his
position and all the duties his name imposes upon him.”
Queen Hortense and the Empress Josephine — the
mother and the grandmother of Louis Napoleon —
were each of them famous beauties ; but the Emperor
Napoleon III. was not a handsome man in the sense
commonly given to these words. His head was large,
usually slightly inclined to one side, and his features
were strongly pronounced. The forehead was broad,
the nose prominent, the eyes small, greyish-blue in
colour, and generally expressionless, owing to a som-
nolent drooping of the lids ; but they brightened
wonderfully when he was amused, and when he was
aroused they were full of power ; nor were those
likely to forget it who had once seen, through these
windows of the soul, the flash of the fire that burned
within. His complexion was blonde, but rather sal-
low ; the lower part of the face was lengthened by a
short “goatee” — called in honour of his Majesty an
“ imperial ” — and broadened by a very heavy, silky
moustache, the ends of which were stiffly waxed. His
hair was of a light brown colour, and, when I first
knew him, was abundant and worn rather long ; at a

40

Character of the Emperor

later period it was trimmed short, and was habitually
brushed in the style made familiar by the effigy on
the coinage of the Empire. In complexion, in the
colour of his hair, and also in the shape of his head,
Napoleon III. was a Beauharnais, not a Bonaparte,
and a Frank, not a Corsican. He was a little below
the average height, but his person was marked with
dignity and distinction, and his deportment with ease
and courtliness. No one seeing him could fail to

O

observe that he was not an ordinary man. Late in
life he inclined to stoutness ; at the time I first met
him his figure was not large, but his body was
compact and muscular.

He was always carefully dressed, and in public,
when in plain clothes, usually wore a black frock coat,
tightly buttoned. But whatever the fashion of the
day might be in hats, rarely could he be induced to
wear any other than a “ Count d’Orsay,” or a very
subdued type of the style in vogue, in which respect
he exhibited his good taste — to those of us who
remember the tall, flat-brimmed, graceless “ stove-
pipes ” with which the Parisian homines dn monde
covered their heads under the Empire.

When a young man, the Emperor was fond of
athletic sports, hunting, fencing, and military exercises
of all kinds. He was a strong swimmer — an accom-
plishment to which he may have owed his life, on the
failure of the expedition to Boulogne — and a fine rider.
In fact, he never appeared to better advantage than
when in the saddle ; and during the years of his
Presidency he was often seen on horseback in the
parks and suburbs of Paris, accompanied by only

4i

The Second French Empire

one or two attendants. A little later, and after his
marriage, he liked to go out in a carriage and to drive
the horses himself. When staying at Saint Cloud, he
was to be seen almost daily in the park or its neigh-
bourhood, riding with the Empress in a phaeton,
behind a span of fast trotters, handling the reins
himself, and entirely unattended.

During the latter part of his life, owing to increasing
infirmities, he became more and more disinclined to
physical exertion. Horseback exercise was now
almost impossible, and his out-of-door excursions were
limited, with rare exceptions, to carriage drives and
walks. He could be seen in these last years almost
any day, when in Paris, on the terrace of the Tuileries
overlooking the Seine, always moving slowly, and
frequently leaning on the arm of an attendant, or
stopping occasionally, as he was fond of doing, to look
down upon the merry groups of children at play in
the garden, whose clamorous happiness, careless and
unrestrained, like a breath of fresh air from another
world, was an inspiration and a delight to him.

He hated to be shut up, and was never so happy as
when he could get away from Paris and be in the
open air. He loved the country and country life. I
have heard him say that he would have liked nothing
better than to be a farmer. He was pleased to see
the broad fields, and orchards, and the gardens ; he
would have been still more pleased could he have
cultivated them or laid them out.

When the improvements were being made in the
Bois de Boulogne, he took so much interest in the
work that he frequently came from Saint Cloud very

42

Character of the Emperor

early in the morning, not simply to see what the
engineers had accomplished, but to superintend and
direct, or as an American might say, “ to boss the
job.” I have been with him there myself, with M.
Alphand, the chief engineer, when, having proposed
some change, the Emperor has taken a hammer from
a workman and planted a number of pickets with his
own hands, to mark the line that in his opinion should
be followed. He seemed to take great pleasure in
indulging his taste for this kind of work.

A good story that illustrates his real capacity in this
direction was told me by the Duke of Hamilton, when
I was visiting him at Brodick Castle, in Scotland.
Being seated one day on a bench by the side of his
Grace, not far from the castle, I remarked, “ How
wonderfully the vista opens before us ; the trees have
been so cut away as to make this landscape most
picturesque.”

“Yes,” he replied, “it has been greatly admired;
it is quite perfect. But, do you know, this was all
done by Louis Napoleon. When he was in exile in
England, he used to come here occasionally, and was
very fond of the place. But he was always suggesting
changes, which, he said, would greatly improve it —
the removal of trees from certain places and the plant-
ing of others elsewhere — with flowers here and
shrubbery there. I, and my father before me, allowed
the Prince to carry out his suggestions, and you now
see with what excellent and very beautiful results.
He was a wonderful landscape gardener ; and,” he
added laughingly, “ if he should ever lose his place, I
should like to take him as my head gardener.”

43

The Second Fre7ich Empire

I afterward told the Emperor what the duke had
said — that he had a place for him always open, in case
he ever needed one. He laughed and replied, “He
was always most kind. I shall never forget my free
and independent life at Arran with the good duke.
Those were among the happiest days of my life, and
the privilege I enjoyed of exercising without restraint
some of my personal tastes contributed very much to
my happiness.”

Louis Napoleon had, however, little liking for Art
for its own sake — nor speaking generally had he a very
high appreciation of the excellency of the products of
aesthetic feeling and the poetic imagination. He loved
facts, not fancies. He was a philosopher and not a
poet. He was called a dreamer ; and so he was in
the sense in which the word can be applied to a
political idealist — to a man incessantly thinking —
whose mind is engrossed and preoccupied by social
and economic problems. But he was very far from
being a dreamer who cherished illusions, or wasted
his time in idle speculations. He kept very close to
his facts in all his thinking — never reasoning far ahead
of them after the manner of visionaries and so-called
philosophers.

The Emperor’s mind was pre-eminently a practical
one. From early youth he was only fond of those
studies that had utilitarian ends in view ; questions
relating to government, to the army, to political
economy, to sociology — whatever might contribute to
the well-being of the people. There was never a
detail so small concerning any of these subjects which,
if new to him, failed to interest him. He was also

44

Character of the Emperor

unusually anxious to know all that was to be learned
about ingeniously constructed machinery and useful
inventions of every kind. He had a great admiration
for these things. This, he acknowledged to me, was
one of his principal reasons for having a very high
opinion of Americans. On my showing him, one day,
a mechanical device which a New York gentleman had
requested me to submit to him, he said, after examin-
ing it carefully, and expressing his appreciation of the
skill of the inventor, “You Americans are sensible
enough not to permit yourselves to be bound hand
and foot by the usages and customs of centuries.
Your aim is to accomplish what you do with the least
expenditure of force — to economise labour and time ;
and it is by such economies that industrial and social
progress is made possible.”

The utilitarianism of the Emperor was not, by any
means, a mere sentiment confined to words, and to
commending and recompensing others for the ex-
cellence of their inventions. Possessing himself an
ingenious, constructive mind, he had a decided taste
for mechanical work, and liked to suggest improve-
ments and to experiment with things. He so loved
to make use of tools that, at one time, he had a lathe
set up in a room in the Tuileries, and would often
spend an hour there in turning the legs and arms of
chairs, and similar objects. And the walls of his
study bore the marks of the bullets with which he and
Major Minie experimented, when they were working
out the problems that led to the invention of the once
famous projectile. He often did with his own hands
impromptu what he thought he could do better than

45

The Second French Empire

any one else. I have seen him more than once, when
an article of furniture was being moved or a picture
hung, and some difficulty was met with, step forward
and remove the obstacle himself. And he seemed to
take delight not so much in telling how the thing
ought to be done, as in showing how easily it could
be done, by having some regard for very simple
mechanical principles.

But more illustrative still of his love of invention —
of his passion, one might say, for making improve-
ments— was the work upon which he was engaged at
the time of his death. When, with the approach of
winter, in the autumn of 1872, the weather became
colder, and the price of fuel increased, it occurred to
the Emperor — thinking always of the poor — that
something might be done to decrease the great waste
of heat carried up the chimneys of dwelling-houses
with the ascending smoke.

As the result of his studies he proposed to bring
this about by means of a cast-iron cylinder, with
certain attachments to be set in the fireplace.

“ I think this apparatus,” said the Emperor, “will
considerably increase the heat in the apartment, and
reduce the coal bills by more than one-half.” His
drawings, all prepared with his own hand, were given
to a practical stove-maker, and the apparatus, when
constructed, was found to work well and as was
intended. But the Emperor thought he could still
improve it ; and he was experimenting on it when he
died. It was the very last work upon which he was
engaged. And, if it serves to illustrate the Emperor’s
mechanical turn of mind, when we remember how

46

Character of the Emperor

much he did during his reign to improve the material
and social condition of his subjects, how deeply he
was interested in the uplifting of the masses, it is
interesting to know that even when dethroned and in
exile he still cherished the same humanitarian ideals,
and that the last subject which occupied his mind was
how he could make lighter the burdens and diminish
the sufferings of the poor.

The Emperor’s domestic habits were simple. The
Emperor and Empress generally breakfasted alone
with the Prince Imperial, while residing at the
Tuileries — although when at Saint Cloud, or Fontaine-
bleau, or Compiegne, the midday breakfast or lunch
was taken with the company in the palace.

The hour fixed for dinner at the Tuileries was
seven o’clock, and it was then only that their Majesties
were in the habit of meeting at table the guests of the
palace, generally from twelve to eighteen in number,
who included the officers and ladies of the palace who
were on duty for the day, and one or more guests.
The table dinner service was very elegant, and the
cooking as nearly perfect as possible, with fresh fruit
of every sort in all seasons.

But there was little ceremony, and the formalities
were few. The dinner was served with the greatest
order and promptness. Rarely more than three-quarters
of an hour were spent at dinner. And the time always
seemed even less than this, if the Emperor was in
good spirits, for he generally led the conversation,
which was sure to be most interesting and enter-
taining ; the news of the day, reminiscences, stories —

47

The Second Fre?ich Empire

these were his favourite subjects. He liked to address
his conversation to some one in particular, and to say
something amiable to each of the guests ; but avoided
saying anything of persons — in fact, all talk about
persons was strictly tabooed at the Imperial table.

After dinner the company passed into the Salon
d’ Apollo — a splendid room with a lofty ceiling, and
magnificently furnished after the style of Louis XIV. —
where coffee was served. The Emperor always took
his coffee standing, smoking at the same time a
cigarette — the gentlemen standing around and the
ladies being seated. After a general conversation for
perhaps a quarter of an hour the Emperor was usually
in the habit of quietly withdrawing to his private
rooms, on the floor below, where he could look over
his papers and smoke his cigarettes at his ease.

Often, however, he reappeared at ten o’clock, when
tea was served, and remained chatting with the com-
pany for a while, or sometimes sat listening but taking
no part in the conversation until he finally retired for
the night. The Empress generally left the salon about
half-past eleven.

The rooms in his palace which the Emperor
selected for dwelling-rooms were chosen and furnished
with regard to comfort, rather than for luxurious
display. He occupied a few chambers having low
ceilings on the ground floor of the Tuileries between
the Pavilion de l’Horloge and the Pavilion de Flore.
Queen Victoria of England, in her diary, speaking of
the Emperor’s rooms, says :

“In his bedroom are busts of his father and uncle,
and an old glass case, which he had with him in

48

Character of the Emperor

England, containing relics of all sorts that are pecu-
liarly valuable to him. In some of the other rooms
are portraits of Napoleon, Josephine, his own mother
with his elder brother, and one of her with his brother
and himself as little children.”

The walls of the room where he spent most of his
time were covered with miniatures of the Imperial
family, and the room itself contained a beautiful col-
lection of arms, and many historical relics and docu-
ments of the greatest value.

He loved this room above all. It was his “ snug-
gery.” Here he could feel that he was free indeed ;
here he could put on the loosest trousers, and the
coat that he liked, and drop where he pleased the
ashes of his cigarettes, of which his pockets always
contained a seemingly inexhaustible supply. And
here, amid heaps of papers, books, and models, he
spent the hours, indulging in pleasant reminiscences
of the past or devoting himself to serious studies
of the great questions that directly concerned the ad-
ministration of the Government, or the international
policy of France. And he gave here, also, audiences
to scholars, inventors, and men of science, talking with
them about history and archaeology, the latest inven-
tion, or the most recent discovery.

How often have I been with the Emperor in this
room ! And how often had I here an opportunity of
admiring the clear, and intelligent, and wise remarks
he made in regard to the most varied subjects ! There
was nothing of importance going on in his Empire, or
in other countries, in which he was not interested ;
and, notwithstanding the cares of Government and
vol. I. 49 E

"The Second French Empire

his numerous preoccupations, he always found time to
inform himself concerning the scientific and industrial
accomplishments of the nineteenth century. He
especially liked to talk about the marvellous inven-
tions and the practical improvements which were
brought to Europe from the United States ; it was
here, in this room on the ground floor of the palace,
looking out upon the garden of the Tuileries, that we
had our long conversations with regard to the trans-
Atlantic cable, the new tramways, army hospitals,
sanitary institutions, and other American applications
of art and science by which the whole world has been
benefited.

Napoleon III. was a most industrious man. He
retired late and rose early. My professional appoint-
ments were very often fixed for some early hour in
the morning. When I arrived, I generally found him
in his cabinet, and learned that he had been there
several hours, hard at work, with books and docu-
ments and memoranda at hand, studying some special
subject, or writing out abstracts, or preparing a paper
for some particular occasion.

He was very fond of writing, and took great plea-
sure in sending to the Press communications to be
published anonymously. Early in life he began to
exhibit his rare talent as a writer and also as a
journalist. And what he wrote was always well
written. He needed no help in his literary work.
Once his materials were in hand, he preferred to frame
his own paragraphs and to polish his own periods.
It was the subject that interested him. He had no

50

Character of the Emperor

fancy for superfluous words, or metaphors, or elabo-
rate ornament, but expressed his thought with direct-
ness, in language that was definite and transparent,
sane and sonorous, and which at times was almost
lapidary in its terseness. His published speeches,
proclamations, and letters are, many of them, remark-
able examples of clear and forcible literary expression.
There can be no question about their authorship. It
used to be said that Mocquard gave to them their
clarity and finish. The death, however, of this accom-
plished chef du cabinet did not affect in the least the
quality of the literary work of Napoleon III. For
many reasons he was careful to submit what he wrote to
the criticism of experts. But his own judgment was
the final authority for his literary style. It is a case
in which one may plainly see that the style is the man.
His acknowledged writings from first to last, without
exception, bear the same stamp, and are the products
of the same mind. Had Louis Napoleon not been an
Emperor he would have been counted one of the
ablest publicists and esteemed as one of the most
brilliant writers of his time.

I may relate here a little incident which will go to
show that the Emperor’s literary ability — and, per-
haps, in the case I am about to mention, his political
tact also — when recognised was not always admired.

It may be remembered that M. Thiers was very
friendly to Prince Louis on the latter’s return to
France in 1848. When the Prince began to think
of becoming a candidate for the Presidency of the
Republic, he consulted M. Thiers about it, and asked
him what he thought of his publishing a declaration

5i

The Second French Empire

of political principles, telling him that if he would
consider the subject he (the Prince) would think it
over also.

A few days later the Prince called his friends
together, and laid before them two drafts of an
address to his fellow-citizens. On the first one being
read it was pronounced “ fine ” ; it was long, well-
developed, carefully written, and sonorous, but inten-
tionally vague. The second one was then called for.
It was short, concise, simple, clear — something that
“ he who ran might read.” Every one who heard it
was delighted. The preference given to it was unani-
mous. The Prince then said to his friends, “You
embarrass me greatly ; the first draft that I read was
written by M. Thiers, the second one by myself.”

“ But yours is the best ! ” they all exclaimed.

And in consequence the draft of the Prince was
adopted and published without the alteration of a
word.

On hearing what had taken place at this meeting
M. Thiers was greatly exasperated. Not only had
his literary self-esteem been wounded, but he foresaw
that the Prince, should he be elected to the Presidency
of the Republic, would be quite able to dispense with
his services in connection with more important matters.
He pronounced the manifesto of the Prince “ impru-
dent,” and declared that not he, but his friend, M. de
Remusat, had written the rejected address, and, of
course, finally went over to the Opposition.1

1 This incident is related somewhat differently in the Life of
Napoleon the Third, by Blanchard Jerrold, who gives as his authority

52

Character of the Emperor

The Emperor was generally slow to form friend-
ships, but, when once made, they were lasting.
They were not broken by calumnious stories — these
he never cared to listen to. “You have no need to
defend yourself,” he said one day to one of his friends,
“the more they calumniate you, the more I love you.”

The Emperor despised flattery and even the
semblance of it. Unlike most princes, he knew men
only too well. If he asked of any one his opinion on
a subject it was in the hope that the person consulted
would not hesitate to make known his real opinion,
however opposed it might be to the one he himself had
formed ; and he never took offence, even when the
contrary opinion was the blunt expression of a political
difference, provided it was sincerely held. In fact, it
was by just such an expression that M. Duruy, the
famous Minister of Public Instruction under the
Empire, first won the esteem and confidence of his
sovereign. Having been invited to look over some
chapters of the “ Life of Csesar,” which the Emperor
was then writing, M. Duruy did not hesitate to
criticise with great frankness the work of the Imperial
author. On coming to a passage in which Caesar was
commended for having usurped the sovereign power,
and it was asserted that when public order was in
danger the usurpation of authority might become
necessary, turning to his Majesty M. Duruy said :
“ I cannot allow this justification of a violation of law

Albert Mansfeld, a German writer. But the account in the text is
the Emperor’s own version of the origin of the manifesto. See also
“ Souvenirs du Second Empire,” par M. Granier de Cassagnac, partie
premiere, p. 53.

53

l

The Second French Empire

to pass without notice. There have been coups d' Ttat
— but we should try to forget them.”

So far was the Emperor from showing any dis-
pleasure at this remark, made with great seriousness,
that he smiled and said most amiably : “ I quite agree
with you — we will strike it out.”

In the important duties that M. Duruy was not
long afterward called upon to assume, and in the
discharge of which he was often violently opposed by
the clerical and reactionary sections of French society,
and by certain members of the Government also, he
never failed to obtain the most cordial co-operation
and support of the Emperor, who seemed to take
great delight in silencing the enemies of his high-
minded and liberal Minister by a single phrase —
“ Duruy est un honnete homme."

And the Emperor himself was un honnete homme
also, when he said, “ I quite agree with you.” It is
well known to those who were intimate with
Napoleon III. that the coup d' Etat of the 2nd of
December was an act for which he had no admira-
tion, and to which he never referred except to excuse
it. “ My friends,” he said, while living at Camden
Place, “ were often urging me to have some monu-
ment erected commemorative of this event ; but not-
withstanding that the coup d'Ftat was afterward
legalised by the votes of eight millions of Frenchmen,

I refused to celebrate an action which, although in my
opinion necessary, was nevertheless a violation of
the law.”

The Emperor disliked to have any one beat about
the bush in the endeavour to persuade or convince

54

Character of the Emperor

him. A straightforward, concise statement of the
case without phrases was what he wanted. One day

when I was with him, Dr. R , who was attending

his uncle, Jerome, the ex-King of Westphalia, in
some illness or other, came to report to him the
condition of the patient. The Emperor, not wishing
to have him come into the room, did not request him
to do so, but asked him how his uncle was getting on.
Standing by the open door, the Doctor described in
learned language and ponderous technical terms, and
at great length, the symptoms of the case and the
condition of the patient. When he went away the
Emperor turned to me and said : “ I suppose all
that — means that my uncle has a bad cold. Why
didn’t he say so simply, without that long-drawn-out
scientific dissertation ? He wished, I suppose, to
impress me with a sense of his importance.”

The Emperor was very tenacious of his opinions,
but was an excellent listener to opinions not his own ;
he could even tolerate the talk of a dunce. Indeed,
as has been very justly remarked, one of his most
enviable characteristics was his patience with fools.

In a letter written to his cousin, Prince Napoleon,
in 1849, he says: “ I shall always strive to govern in
the interest of the masses and not in those of a party.
I honour the men who by their capacity and experi-
ence can give me good advice ; I receive daily the
most contradictory counsel ; but I follow only the
impulses of my reason and my heart.”

He disliked discussion ; but if he seemed to have very
little desire to convince others, he rarely abandoned
an idea or a purpose were it once entertained. To

55

The Secottd French Empire

his mother he was, when a child, the “ gentle head-
strong one ” (/<? doux entdtd') — so rarely was he
insistent, so firmly he held to his purpose. If
obstacles stood in his path he could wait for the
opportune moment, but never forgot to act when the
time came. It was very easy for him to give way;
it was extremely hard for him to give up.

His persistency of belief in his destiny, in spite of
repeated and disastrous failure — his fixity of purpose,
even to the details of administration — in a word, the
unflinching tenacity with which he held to whatever
was a matter of conviction with him, and which was
perhaps the most distinctive feature in the character of
this very remarkable man, is strikingly illustrated by
the following anecdote told by Sir Archibald Alison :

“ The Duke of N said to me in 1854 : ‘ Several

years ago, before the Revolution of 1848, I met Louis
Napoleon often at Brodick Castle in Arran. We fre-
quently went out to shoot together. Neither cared
much for the sport ; and we soon sat down on a
heathery brow of Goatfell and began to speak
seriously. He always opened these conferences by
discoursing on what he would do when Emperor of
France. Among other things, he said he would obtain
a grant from the Chamber to drain the marshes of the
Bries, which, you know, once fully cultivated, became
flooded when the inhabitants, who were chiefly Pro-
testants, left the country on the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes. And what is very curious, I see in the
newspapers of the day that he has got a grant of tzvo
millions of francs from the Chamber , to begin the
draining of these very marshes."'

56

Character of the Emperor

The Emperor, while holding fast to what his judg-
ment had approved, was slow to form opinions. He
wished to examine every side of the question under
consideration ; and he commonly took the time to do
so. He was very fond of asking questions about sub-
jects in which he took an interest, of any one who he
supposed might be able to throw light upon them —
even if it were only a sidelight. This habit was
doubtless, in part, a matter of temperament, but it was
a habit that was strengthened by having a practical
end in view — he wished to form his own opinions;
and, consequently, to see for himself what was to be
seen, and in doing this he liked particularly to look
into the dark corners of things. Indeed, in all matters
of public concern he sought for information, when he
could, at first hand, with a view of obtaining such a
direct and personal knowledge of things as would
enable him, should there be occasion, to check off, as
it were, the more formal information that came to him
through official sources, and thus more clearly under-
stand its real value and significance. Credited by the
world with being an absolute and responsible sove-
reign, he had no wish to be the slave of his own
bureaucracy.

I shall have occasion elsewhere to speak at length
of my relations to the Emperor as a source of informa-
tion concerning matters with which I was personally
acquainted and about which I was supposed to be well
qualified to speak. But the habit above mentioned
may be illustrated by the following incident :

In the winter of 1868-69 the Hon. Anson Bur-
lingame came to Paris at the head of a special and

57

The Second French Empire

very important Chinese Mission. Mr. Burlingame
was a warm personal friend of mine, and, from the
moment of his arrival in the French capital, I saw him
almost every day. Just before, or soon after, the
Mission reached Europe, I spoke to his Majesty about
it, saying that Mr. Burlingame was an old acquaintance
and friend. “Oh,” said he, “ I wish you would tell me
who he is, and just what the object of this Mission is.”
“ Sire,” I replied, “ I can tell you at once who Mr.
Burlingame is, but I fear that I cannot tell you now
just what he hopes to accomplish here.” “ Very well,”
said his Majesty, “ I wish then you would find out
why this Mission has been created — what powers it
has, what it has done, and what is wanted of us, and
let me know. Put any facts you have to give me in
writing — not at great length, but summarily.”

It will be easily understood that I had no difficulty
in obtaining the information desired. And very soon
after our conversation, I had the pleasure of com-
municating it to his Majesty in the form he had
requested.

When, subsequently, this Mission entered into official
relations with the French Government, and its pro-
posals became the subject of deliberations in the
Imperial Council, his Majesty was thoroughly familiar
with every aspect of the case.

The accurate knowledge the Emperor occasionally
exhibited about things he was presumed to be quite
ignorant of was very remarkable and, sometimes, the
cause of great astonishment to his councillors. How
he obtained his information was no secret to those who
were acquainted with his habit of extracting informa-

53

Character of the Emperor

tion from those that possessed it and were cognisant
of the care and the persistence with which he studied,
quite by himself and for himself, every subject that
concerned the welfare of the people or the prestige of
the Empire. In matters of action, especially, he de-
sired to have nothing left to chance, but to have what
was done, done with consideration — the contingencies,
so far as possible, foreseen and properly provided for.

His prudence, his extreme caution even, was one of
the most remarkable traits of his character — the one,
perhaps, with which the general public is least familiar ;
for if it was a trait that few could fail to observe, it was
commonly and wrongly supposed to indicate hesitancy
and indecision rather than a clear sense of the unwis-
dom of acting without knowledge and without reflec-
tion. Moreover, his confidence in his destiny would
seem to preclude the need of knowledge or of caution
in the execution of the work he aimed to accomplish.
But Louis Napoleon’s trust in “ destiny,” like Crom-
well’s “trust in God,” in no way lessened the strength
of his conviction that it was very important at the
same time to “ keep the powder dry ” ; or the firmness
of his belief in the assurance of a greater authority
that — “faith without works is dead.”

It may be safely said that he engaged in no serious
undertaking without looking at it in all its aspects,
and, if it was attended with risks and perils, without
having weighed them carefully in his own mind. In
consequence he was never taken unawares nor sur-
prised by any event, and was thus morally able to
accept and to bear all that fortune gave to him,
whether of good or bad.

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The Second French Empire

I presume that many — perhaps most — of the per-
sons who have read the historical account of Louis
Napoleon’s attempt to capture the garrison at Stras-
bourg, in 1836, or the story of his expedition to
Boulogne, made four years later, were astonished at
the audacity of the Prince, and at the apparent
absence of any just appreciation on his part of the
very probable consequences of these attempts. To
some persons they have doubtless seemed to be the
acts of a man who was mad. And they might be
properly so characterised had they been determined
by the facts and conditions then existing, as under-
stood by the world at large. But no man was more
sane or perspicacious than he when he made these
attempts to overthrow the Government of Louis
Philippe, single-handed, but in the name of his uncle.
He then clearly perceived how profoundly the memory
of Napoleon was cherished by the French people, and
correctly estimated the feebleness of the monarchy,
and the incomparable power of that sovereignty of
which he was the living representative. A few years
later the whole world saw that he had committed no
error of judgment, but was right when he believed
himself to be strong enough to revive in France the
system of Napoleon — an Imperial democracy — if he
could but obtain a foothold in his country. He knew
perfectly well that any endeavour to do this forcibly
would be attended with great risks ; and they were
carefully counted, but calmly regarded.

If he failed to accomplish his purpose at Strasbourg,
and again at Boulogne, it was not because the scheme
itself was not feasible, but because its success was

60

Character of the Emperor

made impossible, in each case, by the misunder-
standings and blunders of those who were more
directly responsible for its execution.

These revolutionary attempts were certainly auda-
cious. What makes them still more remarkable is
the clairvoyant judgment of the political situation in
France that prompted them, and the cool deliberation
with which they were planned or plotted.

This same trait of character — his extreme cautious-
ness— could not be better illustrated than by an
incident that occurred at the time of the Paris
Exposition of 1867, and which was reported to me

by my friend, Dr. C . “ I had come,” said he,

“ one morning quite early to the pavilion containing
the United States Sanitary Commission’s exhibit.
As there was no one in the building, and very few
people were in the grounds at that hour, I took a
cigar from my pocket, lighted it, and sat down to look
over a morning paper. I had been seated but a
moment, when I heard an unusual trampling of feet
on the gravel walk near by, and on looking up to dis-
cover the cause of this commotion, I saw a gentleman
approaching the open door of the pavilion, quite alone,
but followed at a short distance by two others,
behind whom, a little farther away, a crowd of people
had gathered. Recognising instantly who my visitor
was, I hastily laid on a table that stood conveniently
near me my freshly lighted cigar, and stepped forward
to meet the Emperor. He greeted me with a pleasant
smile, and addressing me in English, said : ‘ Is this
the collection of Dr. Evans ? ’ I told him that it was •

f

and then he immediately began to ask me questions

61

! Fhe Second French Empire

about the objects near him. Passing on from one to
another, we moved slowly around the room — he
evidently quite interested in what he saw and heard,
and I greatly delighted to have an opportunity to
explain these things to so distinguished a visitor.
Finally we came to the beautiful model of one of the
United States Army post hospitals that stood upon a
broad, wooden table covered with green cloth. I was
quite proud of this model, and particularly invited the
attention of his Majesty to it, and began to talk very
enthusiastically about it and the great hospital it so
admirably represented. But suddenly I stopped
speaking, for I observed that his Majesty was not
listening to me, nor even looking at the model. His
eyes were fastened upon another object ; and then, to
my astonishment, I saw him reach out his hand and
with thumb and finger pick up the cigar I had just
laid down, and place it, with the half- inch of white
ashes still sticking to the end, on the hard, solid base
of the model.

“ My confusion can be imagined when, after having
thus disposed of the cause of offence, the Emperor
turned to me, and with a quizzical expression on his
face, and in the gentlest possible tone of voice, said :
‘ I think it would be safer there, don’t you? You see,
the cloth on which it lay is inflammable, and so is the
table under it. And if by chance they should take
fire — as the pavilion is constructed wholly of light
wood and cloth, and the buildings that are grouped
around it are equally frail and combustible — it would
be impossible to tell what a disaster might follow —
riest-ce pas ? ’

62

Character of the Emperor

“Of course, I entirely agreed with his Majesty that
it would be a calamity to have this splendid Exposition
brought to an end in such a way. And he smiled
again most complaisantly, evidently greatly amused at
my ill-concealed embarrassment.

“He had, however, given me a lesson, which I am
sure I accepted at the time with due humility, and
which I have never since forgotten — namely, be
always mindful that a little spark may kindle a great
flame, and act accordingly.

“And when the Emperor had gone — * No,’ I said
to myself, ‘ M. Thiers may launch his sarcasms and
M. Emile de Girardin may rave, but there will be no
war between France and Prussia about this Luxem-
bourg question. The man who is so far-seeing, so
cautious, so apprehensive even of the consequences
that might follow from what would seem to most men
a trifle, is not likely to risk his throne over this miser-
able affair — if he can help it. And, as he has the
power in his own hands, the peace of Europe will be
preserved.’

“ And it was preserved.”

His cautiousness, his slowness, his hesitancy to
come to a decision were in striking contrast with
the boldness and swiftness with which he acted when
he had finally decided upon the course to be taken,
and felt that the opportune moment had come.
Having resolved to accomplish a purpose, to reach
an object, he was prompt to move. Were the
undertaking difficult or dangerous to execute, his
activity was prodigious, his self-control extraordinary,
and the reserve of energy upon which he drew

63

7 he Second French Empire

apparently inexhaustible. Then it was that his
nature seemed to be entirely transformed, and the
man who was as tender-hearted as a woman in the
presence of suffering, and who shrank from pain like
a child, could act without feebleness and endure
without a murmur.

Absolutely fearless when the time for action came,
but deliberate, cautious, and careful at every step that
led to it — such was Napoleon III.

He was always the complete master of his own
thoughts and emotions. Generally grave and serious,
he could not only be amused and join in the merriment
of the hour, but could, on occasion, laugh as heartily
as any one. He was quick to see the comic features
of an incident or situation, and often greatly enjoyed a
witticism or an epigram. He was, however, himself
too polite and too kind to be clever at the expense of
the feelings of others. His unwillingness to give pain
to others occasionally led him to show what was
thought to be feebleness. But, as he was capable of
acts requiring him to ignore the promptings of senti-
ments, so, too, when he felt called upon to say what
he thought, no one could exceed him in the keenness
of his sarcasm or the sharpness of his retort. For
instance, Prince Napoleon having petulantly remarked
to him that he had nothing of his uncle (the first
Emperor) about him, he replied, “You are quite
mistaken. I have his family.”

Or when, on a certain occasion, having been told
that the Count de Chambord had said that in case he
should come to the throne he intended to secure the

64

Character of the Emperor

services of all the clever people that Napoleon III.
had gathered about him, he quickly retorted, “ Ah,
indeed! If he should secure the services of all the
clever people who have gathered about me his reign
would be a very short one.”

But his repartees were generally of the most amiable
kind. What would disturb the equanimity of most
men was to him only the occasion for a pleasantry.
For example, a little rascal having driven his hoop
against him while he was walking in the Bois de
Boulogne, on being stopped by an aide-de-camp and
told that it was the Emperor he had hit, answered
back, “ I don’t care if it is, my father says he is
a great scamp.” One can imagine the amazement of
those who heard the speech of this enfant terrible.
“ Who is your father ? ” he was at once asked.

“ No,” said the Emperor, “ I do not wish to know ;
and besides,” laughing aloud, “ it is forbidden in the
Code to inquire who the father is.”

The instant reply on this occasion, “ I do not wish
to know,” reveals like a flash of light the true character
of the man behind the impertransible countenance the
Emperor habitually wore. He never wished to know
who his personal enemies were or what they said
about him. He frequently surprised and vexed his
intimate friends by the kind things he said of men
who had grossly abused him ; and astonished and
annoyed them, perhaps, still more by the favours he
was ready to accord to these men and the official
positions he offered to them and actually placed
them in.

He possessed in an unusual degree the gift of
vol. i. 65 f

The Second French Empire

making graceful little speeches on the spur of the
moment, to meet a dilemma, to pay a compliment,
or to protect a friend. At a ball given at the
Tuileries a general, slipping upon the polished floor,
was so unlucky as to fall at the Emperor’s feet,
pulling down with him his partner. The awkward-
ness of the situation and the embarrassment and
mortification of the officer can easily be imagined.
“Madame,” said the Emperor, as he assisted the

lady to rise, “ this is the second time General has

fallen in my presence ; the first time was at Solferino.”

The dignity and habitual reticence which caused
him to be often spoken of as “a sphinx ” by those
who did not know him intimately, gave a special
saliency to these impromptu expressions of intelligent
interest and kindly feeling. It is true they frequently
were not comprehended by those who heard them, for
the very reason that they were so unexpected.

He was always a refined gentleman in his dealings
with men, whoever they might be. It is well known
that in the Boulogne affair the Prince had the promised
support of a number of persons of high rank. But
when my friend, the late Henry Wikoff, on the death
of one of them wrote to the Emperor, asking permis-
sion to mention his relations to this person at the time
referred to, the Emperor, in a letter written in answer
to this request, said: “But it is my desire also that
even the dead should not be named ; for that might
be disagreeable to those who are still living.” He
preferred to have nothing said rather than to permit,
perchance, the feelings of any one to be unnecessarily
wounded.

66

Character of the Emperor

It having been reported to him that Jules Favre
had made a number of false declarations for the
purpose of concealing certain facts relating to his
domestic life, and that, if the matter were brought
before the courts, his most bitter and persistent
opponent might be silenced for ever — “ Stop your
inquiries,” said he ; “to attempt to destroy the repu-
tation of this man in such a way would be a detestable
thing.”

When in the bitterness of his defeat — a prisoner —
M. Guizot, in letters addressed to the London Times
in the autumn of 1870, grossly misrepresented his
opinions, conduct, and responsibilities with regard to
the war, the Empress, justly indignant, sent a dispatch
to him at Wilhelmshohe, in which she suggested that
the answer should be the publication of certain corre-
spondence between the Guizots and himself. The
Emperor telegraphed back immediately : “I forbid
you to mention a word of it. M. Guizot is an illus-
trious Frenchman. I have helped him. I do not
confer favours in order that they may become arms
against my enemies. Not a word.”

These were the sayings of a genuine man — of one
of Plutarch’s men — the greatness of whose character
is to be measured not in the line of historical achieve-
ment but by the qualities of his soul.

His good-nature was never ruffled by trifles; a
casual mistake of no real moment — a delay, some
failure of accomplishment, the 7naladresse of an
attendant or of a servant — was rarely noticed. He
had too keen a sense of the relative importance of
things. On one occasion, while at dinner, an awkward

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waiter discharged a portion of the contents of a seltzer
bottle in his face. The poor man was paralysed with
terror ; but his Majesty merely remarked that the
levers of syphons were often treacherous. I cannot
remember, at this moment, any trifling inadvertence
that really seemed to annoy him except the neglect
of a person leaving his room to close the door he had
opened. But a failure of duty, an obvious careless-
ness or lack of order, even in the smallest matter,
seldom if ever escaped his notice ; and he often
directed the attention of the person at fault to the
expediency of more painstaking.

Kings, and Presidents even, are apt to be troubled
by the contentions and rivalries among those who
surround them, and who are made jealous by every
preferment of favour granted. The Imperial Court,
being a new establishment, was very often disturbed,
as was to have been expected, by the grumbling of
unsatisfied ambitions, and the more or less malicious
gossip, and the petty manifestations of spite that are
seldom absent where the vanities of the world are
on exhibition. But the grumblers and the gossips
received no encouragement from Napoleon III.
Scandals he would not tolerate. Contentions over
personal matters annoyed him. He wished to have
all those about him living together in harmony and
fraternity. He was the peacemaker of the palace.
I could give many instances within my knowledge
in which he so acted. But none is so striking, so
eminently characteristic of the man, as the one in
which he appeared as a peacemaker at Sedan.

After the raising of the white flag the Emperor

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Character of the Emperor

sent for Generals Ducrot and de Wimpfen, requesting
them to meet him at the Sub-Prefecture. There
these two Commanders-in-chief, immediately they met,
regardless of the awful situation — the dead and the
dying lying around them on every side — and of the
urgency of coming to a conclusion quickly and sanely,
began to indulge in violent recriminations ; and each,
disclaiming his own responsibility for the disaster,
proceeded to place the blame upon the other. Both
men were greatly excited and seemed ready to seize
each other by the throat. The scene was pitiful in
the extreme. Then it was that the Emperor, a sad
witness of this wretched conflict — himself without a
command, but upon whom all the responsibility had
fallen — came forward to intervene, and soothe with
conciliatory words the wounded pride or vanity of his
generals.

“We have all done our best, as best we understood
it, and as we best could. Don’t let us forget the
duties we still owe to ourselves, to the army, to
France, and to humanity.”

It is infinitely pathetic, this attitude of the defeated
sovereign, his calmness, his forgetfulness of self, his
concern for the peace of mind — for the amour propre
even — of others ; and above all the large way in
which he sought to look at things when grief and
sorrow were eating his heart away.

The Emperor often seemed to be lost in abstraction,
thinking about, or looking at, something afar off ;
and, apparently, paying no attention to the conversa-
tion or discussion that was going on around him,

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when, to the great surprise of every one, a sudden,
forcible remark, or a sharp criticism revealed the fact
that he had been a most attentive listener.

It has often been said that the imperturbability of
the Emperor was a mask “ put on ” ; that in fact he
was exceedingly emotional and impulsive, but had
schooled himself to conceal his feelings and dominate
the strongest momentary inclination ; that even his
slowness and hesitancy of speech, the habit of partly
closing his eyes, and his appearance of detachment
were mannerisms acquired, and not original and genuine
characteristics. These statements, while perhaps not
absolutely untrue, are fallacious and misleading.

It is my belief that the phlegm of the Emperor was
entirely natural — in brief, that he was to the manner
born. The subjection in which he was able to hold his
emotions and feelings, if remarkable in degree, was
certainly not unusual in kind. The dominance of the
passions over the reflective facilities, so characteristic
of youth and inexperience, is commonly presumed to
end when the natural processes of mental develop-
ment have been completed and the age of discretion
has been reached. It is quite true that the Emperor
possessed a mind always sensitive and emotional in a
high degree, but it was a mind that in its maturity
was governed by a powerful will directed by intelli-
gence, experience, and reason ; and it was to this
same will also that he was indebted for his apparently
inexhaustible powers of physical endurance. His habits
of thinking — his abstraction — his reticence — his pecu-
liarities of manner, all his distinctive personal traits of
character, were the products or visible forms of his

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Character of the Emperor

temperavient — a temperament that was stamped upon
every lineament of his face, and which it was as im-
possible for him to put off as it would have been to
put on.

That his imperturbability and wonderful power of
self-control made it extremely difficult to divine his
inmost thoughts is unquestionably true. But a ruler
of men is under no obligation to confess himself to
those around him, or to tell the world what he thinks
about everything, however curious everybody may
be to discover it ; and a man who is able to keep his
opinion to himself is much more likely to owe this
ability to the possession of a sound and well-disci-
plined mind, than to the use of a mask — a word that
connotes intentional deception and, consequently,
weakness rather than a prudent and legitimate
reserve.

His mental and moral equipoise was perfect. When
returning from Bordeaux, in 1852, he made his entry
into Paris and was hailed as “ Augustus ” by the
enthusiastic people, and as the “saviour” of his
country by the Municipal Council, and the re-estab-
lishment of the Empire having been demanded, he
knew that he was about to realise the supreme object
of his ambition, not the slightest change in his deport-
ment was visible to those who were nearest to him.
And at Metz, when the news of the defeats of Mac-
Mahon and Frossard fell at headquarters like a thun-
derbolt, to fill it with consternation and to destroy
the self-possession of all about him, we are told
that “his was the only cool head.”

The masterful composure of Napoleon III., in

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every situation and circumstance, was no concealing
mask to be put on and put off, but a quality of the
mind that reveals very clearly the intellectual eleva-
tion, the moral force, and the commanding character
of the man.

In this connection I may say that the usual
expression on his face, when Prince-President, was
one of absolute serenity. When Emperor, his features,
although always perfectly composed, became more
and more grave, giving to him the air of a man who
was constantly thinking of great and serious things.
After his days of grandeur and power, when an exile
in his modest home at Chislehurst, his countenance
wore the expression of a man at peace with himself,
and his manner was that of the profound thinker who,
notwithstanding a shade of sadness often noticeable
in his features or his voice, still esteemed himself
superior to the accidents of fortune.

Although he seemed phlegmatic and hesitating,
and uncertain in his ordinary conversation, and to
possess a rather weak voice, when once aroused he no
longer hesitated and his utterance was forcible. He
expressed his thought with directness, and on occasion
with eloquence. His addresses before official assem-
blies or on ceremonial occasions were pronounced or
read by him with great effect. As a public speaker
he had a remarkably good voice — smooth, flexible,
sonorous, and full in volume — which he used with
skill, and his enunciation was so distinct that no word
was lost. He seldom made use of gestures but stood
firmly on his feet, and in complete possession of him-
self. His speaking or reading left upon those who

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Character of the Emperor

heard him an impression of power. Its vocal effect
was very much like that produced by the reading of
his great and implacable enemy — Victor Hugo.

In religion the Emperor was a Catholic, and was
careful to comply with the formal observances of his
Church. But he was a liberal Catholic — a Gallican
and not a Ultramontane — and looked with sympathy
and favour on every historical religious confession.
He advocated religious liberty everywhere, and gave
directions that intolerance, in matters of religious
opinion and worship, should not be permitted either
in France or in the dependencies of the Empire.

“ Everywhere, indeed, where I can,” he once said,
“ I exert myself to enforce and propagate religious
ideas — but not to please a party.”

In “ Les Iddes Napoleoniennes,” Prince Louis, re-
ferring to his uncle, says : “ He re-established religion,
but without making the clergy a means of govern-
ment.” And one of the questions he imagines that
Napoleon might ask, were he to return to France,
was : “ Have you kept the clergy strictly within the
limits of their religious duties, and away from political
power? ”

It was because of these liberal views with respect to
religious confessions and the relations of the Church
to the State, that the Emperor never ceased to be
suspected of a lack of fidelity to the Papal authority,
whether temporal or spiritual, and was often assailed
with extreme violence by the militant representatives
of the Roman Catholic Church. Every one knows
how abhorrent to M. Louis Veuillot and his friends

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The Second French Empire

was the effective work of the Emperor in behalf of
the kingdom of Italy ; but perhaps few now remem-
ber that his equally successful effort at home to keep
the educational institutions of France free from the
mildew of clericalism was equally productive of angry
protest on the part of the ultra-Catholic party.

But while he continued scrupulously to observe the
terms of the convention that established the relations
between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities in
France, he must frequently have been reminded of
the admission of his uncle, who, in enumerating the
mistakes he had made, said : “ Mais le Concordat est
la plus grande faute de ma vie."

In fact, the hostility of the reactionary wing of the
French Catholic Church to the policy of Napoleon
III., contributed directly and powerfully to the over-
throw of the Second Empire. And this was finally
accomplished, when the French Democracy, under
the political leadership of Delescluze and Leon Gam-
betta, effected a junction with French clericalism,
under the military leadership of General Trochu.1

1 The depth of the dislike of the Emperor, on the part of the
reactionary elements of the Roman Church, is even less manifest in
the bitter attacks openly directed against the measures and the
policy of the Imperial Government than in the insidious and per-
sistent efforts of the militant champions of the Papacy to teach the
people that Napoleon III. was an enemy of the Church. And it is
particularly through the schools and among the young that they
have thus endeavoured to prejudice public opinion. For example :
In the last edition of the “ Histoire de France a l’usage de la
jeunesse,” revised and completed by M. l’Abbe Courval, superior of
the seminary of Seez, Paris, 1873, Napoleon III. is spoken of as
follows : “ The Emperor, while pretending that he wished to pre-
serve the temporal power of the Holy See, permitted the Pope to

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Character of the Emperor

I think, however, that the Emperor was more
inclined to look upon the Church as an important — a
necessary — social institution, than to regard it as the
keeper of the keys of heaven. And yet he was a firm
believer in the Kingdom of God. His fatalism was
not a blind determinism, but a religious faith. It had
its origin in a deep and abiding conviction that every
man is an instrument in the hands of God for a
purpose ; and he was fully persuaded that he him-
self— like Caesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon — had been
providentially chosen to fulfil a mission, and that
every act and every event of his life, every failure
and every success, was a necessary and inevitable
part of it.

The strong and almost mystical belief that he had
a mission and that it would be accomplished to the
end, in spite of any human agency, was never more
strikingly manifested than when, after the failure of
the attempt to assassinate him made by Pianori —
who on the 28th of April, 1855, discharged a revolver
twice, almost in his face — the Senate came to the
Tuileries in a body to congratulate him on his pro-
vidential escape. “ I thank you,” said the Emperor,
“ but I do not fear in the least the attempts of
assassins. There are beings who are the instruments
of the decrees of Providence. So long as I shall not
have accomplished my mission, I incur no danger.”

be despoiled of his States by piecemeal; while France, the eldest
daughter of the Church, stood by with arms in her hands, for more
than ten years a witness of the consummation of this iniquitous
sacrilege. Nor was it long before he received his chastisement ” ;
and so forth. — Op. cit., vol. ii. p. 387.

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The Second French Empire

And he spoke then as he always spoke when expres-
sing this belief, quietly, and with no show of that
tremendous sense of his own importance in the
economy of the universe which characterises most
men who fancy they have a mission in the world.

I never had any reason to suppose that the Emperor
could with justice be charged with vanity. At least
he was free from that kind which, he himself often
admitted, was the characteristic French foible ; for his
vanities were impersonal, and had a purpose. But he
was proud, very proud. He knew that he was a
Bonaparte. His reverence for his famous uncle had
in it something more than respect for the prodigious
genius of the man ; he felt that he was the heir, and
the legitimate and sole heir, to all he possessed ; that
in him had been incarnated the spirit of Napoleon;
and that it was not only his business and his duty, but
that he had been born under Providence, to be the
propagator of the ideas of his uncle, and the recon-
structor and continuator of his work.

His foster-sister, Madame Cornu, used to relate a
little incident that shows how early he became imbued
with the Napoleonic legend.

Having remarked that Louis when a child was of a
most amiable and generous disposition, she went on to
say that one day, when they were playing together —
he being about ten or twelve years old — he spoke of
the great Emperor, and told her what he was going
to do when he grew up to be a man ; and that when
she laughed at something he had said, he did not
seem to take offence, and soon after invited her very

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Character of the Emperor

pleasantly to walk with him towards the foot of the
garden, but that on turning into a side-path, where
they were out of sight, he suddenly seized her arm
with both hands and, with an expression of intense
anger on his face, cried out, “ Hortense, if you don’t
take that back I’ll break your arm.”

If he never forgot a kindness, he never forgot an
injury, and was as sensitive as a woman to a personal
offence. When, on the re-establishment of the
Imperial dynasty, the Emperor Nicholas declined, in
acknowledging the announcement of this event, to
address him as “ Mon frere ,” according to diplomatic
usage, but used instead the words “ Mon ami ,” the
Emperor was cut to the quick. It is true he is said
to have taken the affront very calmly, and to have
been moved only to remark that “ Heaven gives us
our brothers, but we can choose our friends.” How-
ever this may be, I am quite sure that at the time he
regarded the form of address chosen by the Russian
Emperor as an intended indignity to be dealt with
only and properly by a prompt suspension of diplo-
matic relations. He finally accepted the Russian
letter ; but I am inclined to think that he never forgot
the form of address nor forgave it — although too
proud to acknowledge that he thought it worthy of
notice. It has been said that had the Czar, on this
occasion, addressed the Emperor as “ Mon frere"
there would have been no Crimean war ; and it is
equally probable that the remembrance of the re-
luctant and conditional recognition of the Imperial
title — “Napoleon III.” on the part of Austria and
Prussia, may have strongly predisposed the Emperor

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! The Second French Empire

to the wars he subsequently waged with these two
Powers.

In 1859, not long before war was declared against
Austria, the Emperor wrote to Walewski, his Minister
for Foreign Affairs ; “ Strong as is my love for
everything that is great and noble, I would tread
under my feet reason itself, were reason to wear the
garb of pusillanimity. Although I may say the con-
trary, I have deeply graven upon my heart the tortures
of St. Helena and the disaster of Waterloo. It is
now thirty years that these memories have been
gnawing at my heart. They have caused me to
face without regret death and captivity. They would
cause me to confront something greater yet — the
future of my country.” What a self-characterisation !
How suggestive of what was to come !

But it was his pride that enabled him to support
with such sovereign dignity all the humiliations that
befell him after the destruction of his armies and the
loss of his throne. Whatever weakness he may have
shown as Emperor, as a dethroned monarch his con-
duct was irreproachable. His real greatness and
magnanimity, his elevation of mind and moral courage
were made evident by what he did and said at Sedan,
and when a prisoner ; but still more, not only then,
but afterward when in exile, by what he did not do
and did not say. He accepted his responsibilities
fully. He made no attempt to lay the blame on
others for the disasters which followed each other
with such frightful rapidity, from the opening of the
war to the capitulation at Sedan. He never excused
himself, although ready to excuse his generals and his
political advisers.

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Character of the Emperor

If the ambition of Napoleon III. was equal to that
of the first Napoleon, it was less personal and more
scrupulous ; he sought nothing for himself alone, and
to him the most glorious victories were the victories
of peace ; but his pride was greater and more noble.
If ambition led to the downfall of the first Napoleon,
pride may have been the cause of his own downfall ;
but it also finally preserved him from railing against
both men and fate, after the manner of his uncle ;
and, by enabling him to live with honour and to die
with dignity, it has secured to him the sympathy
of the world. Unmoved by calumny, silent under
criticism, the serenity — the superb stoicism — with
which Napoleon III. accepted his destiny makes him
one of the most remarkable characters in history.

The story of his life moves along from the
beginning to its very end with the perfect unity
of action of a Greek tragedy.

“ Nature prepared him for the part he was to
take,’' says M. Granier de Cassagnac, “ by endowing
him with qualities that are the opposites of our faults :
we seldom listen, he listened attentively ; we rarely
reflect, he was meditating incessantly ; we get angry
with men and with things ; he was gentle in his
dealings with persons and events. Such a character
was beneath neither the grandeur nor the perils of
the situation, for he joined to the power that at a
glance takes the measures of obstacles, the courage
that encounters them and the patience that wears
them down.”

If the career of Napoleon III. was extraordinary,
no less extraordinary were the qualities of head and
heart with which nature had endowed him.

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CHAPTER III

THE MARRIAGE OF THE EMPEROR

Louis Napoleon is advised to marry — The Princess Caroline — The
Duchess of Hamilton — Ancient and modern Knights — The
Duke of Hamilton — A great surprise — Eugenie de Montijo ;
her character, her person — The Emperor announces his
engagement — How the announcement was received — The
marriage ceremony — My first visit to the Empress at the
Tuileries — A little incident — The Empress does not forget her
old friends — Pepa — The character of Eugenie de Montijo
unchanged by her elevation to a throne — Criticism — The
fortune of the Imperial family — The demands upon the privy
purse — The generosity of the Empress — Her first act after her
engagement — Her visits to the cholera hospitals — “ Pious but
not bigoted ” — Her public liberalities — The house parties at
Compiegne — The Empress a lover of the things of the mind —
The Suez Canal — The character of the Empress described by
the Emperor — The Empress not exempt from the defects of
her qualities.

VERY soon after the coup aEtat the friends of
the Prince, as well as the Government officials,
began to urge for reasons of State the importance and
even the necessity of his marriage. M. Thayer, the
husband of the daughter of General Bertrand, the
companion of Napoleon at St. Helena, said to me one
day, “ I have just seen the Prince and told him he
must now get married, have a family, and found a
dynasty in order to continue and perpetuate the name

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The Marriage of the Emperor

of Napoleon. I told him that he should do this as
soon as possible.” Then he went on to say that the
Prince, pulling at his moustache, as was his habit,
replied, “ I will marry ; but as for founding a dynasty,
that I cannot promise.”

It was not without a struggle that the Prince con-
sented to break away from old attachments that had
been sealed by personal sacrifices and magnanimous
acts in his behalf ; nor was it easy for him to come to
a determination which involved a complete change in
his habits of living. He yielded, however, to the
counsel of his friends.

The question now was, whom should he marry ?
And it was one that interested a great many persons,
each of whom had some Royal or Imperial princess
to propose. What intrigues there were to find a wife
for the Prince, planned by people who wished to
closely connect themselves with the Court of the
future !

But of all these proposed matches there was only
one that for a time seemed probable. The Duchess
of Hamilton — who was the daughter of Stephanie
(Beauharnais), the Grand Duchess of Baden, and a
cousin of Louis Napoleon, and consequently in a posi-
tion to speak to him very frankly — advised him to
marry a Royal princess, and commended to him her
niece, Caroline, the daughter of Prince Vasa, son of
Gustavus IV., King of Sweden. Prince Vasa was
then in exile — a Field-Marshal in the service of the
Emperor of Austria. He was without fortune ; but
his daughter had been brought up at Carlsruhe and
Baden-Baden, and it had long been the wish of the

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old Duchess Stephanie to make a great marriage for
this favourite granddaughter. With this idea she had
canvassed the chances of making her the wife of most
of the hereditary princes of Europe.

The attention of Prince Louis was therefore turned
to the eligibility of this Princess, and the great advan-
tage it would be to him to be allied to so many
powerful Royal families, both German and Swedish,
Catholic and Protestant. It was considered that such
an alliance would greatly strengthen his position.
The Princess herself was all that could be desired,
suitable in age, charming in personal appearance,
intelligent, and educated in a superior manner. Such
was the match proposed to him by his family, or by
one relative to whom he was greatly attached, since
he and the Princess Mary had spent much time
together in their early days, both in Germany and
elsewhere.

The intimate relations of these two cousins, and
the natural gallantry and romantic temperament of
the Prince are shown in a very striking and in-
teresting manner in the following incident :

One day Prince Louis Napoleon, while on a visit to
the Grand Duchess, was walking on the banks of the
Rhine with this cousin and her sisters Louise and
Josephine, when the conversation turned upon the
gallantry of men in former times. The Princess
Mary extolled in the strongest terms the chivalry of
those days when the knight took for his motto, “ God,
my King, and my Lady,” and insisted that men had
sadly degenerated in modern times. The Prince
denied this, and asserted that in all times knightly

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The Marriage of the Emperor

devotion was never wanting towards a lady who was
worthy of inspiring it, and that the French, at least,
had not degenerated, but were as brave and chivalric
as their ancestors.

Just then a gust of wind blew from the hat of his
cousin, Princess Louise, a flower, which fell into the
river.

“There!” said the Princess Mary, as the flower
drifted off into the stream, “ what a chance for a
knight of the olden time to show his courage and
devotion ! ”

“ Ah ! ” said the Prince, “ is that a challenge ?
Well, I accept it” — and, before a word could be
spoken, he plunged into the water, dressed as he was.
One can easily imagine the consternation and alarm
of the young ladies. But if the Prince yielded to an
audacious caprice, he knew the measure of his
strength ; and he swam out boldly into the stream
until he reached the flower, when, having seized it, he
turned towards the shore and breasted the current
that beat against him, and threatened for a moment
to sweep him into the rapids below. With a few
strong strokes he extricated himself from the suction
of the rapidly moving water and gained a foothold.
Clambering up the bank, dripping and somewhat out
of breath, he walked up to his cousin Mary, and with
a polite bow, addressing her, said : “ 1 have proved to
you the sincerity of my belief. Here is the flower,
my fair cousin, but,” with a shiver, for it was in the
winter that this happened, “ for Heaven’s sake I beg
of you henceforth to forget your ancient knights.”

Two years after this adventure the Princess Louise

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The Second French Empire

married Gustavus Vasa, and the Princess Caroline
was her daughter ; and Josephine, who married Antoine
Prince of Hohenzollern, was the mother of Prince
Leopold, who by a strange fatality, as the instrument
of Bismarck, finally brought about the downfall of
Napoleon III., his mother’s cousin, and the destruction
of the Second Empire.1

I can, without indiscretion or a breach of confidence,
say that a marriage would have been the consequence
of the deep attachment existing between these two
young people had not the ambitious mother of the
Princess positively prohibited the match. I have been
assured of her saying that she doubted if Louis would
ever be in a position worthy of her daughter Mary.
The old duchess had always been kind to the Prince ;
she was sincerely fond of him, and often invited him
to see her ; but it was not her wish that he should
marry her daughter — his uncertain future being an
insuperable obstacle. She was eager for money, as
the family had not much themselves ; hence Mary’s
subsequent marriage with the Duke of Hamilton,
who was not royal, but rich and powerful in his own
country.

By way of parenthesis, I may mention here the
singular fact that, when the Duke of Hamilton, years
afterward, had the misfortune to fall down the entire
flight of stairs at the Maison Dor^e in Paris, striking
his head on each step as he fell, and was carried to
the Hotel Bristol in a terrible state, it was the
Empress Eugenie who visited him, sitting by his
side, doing all she could for him, and nursing him like

1 See Appendix I.

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The Marriage of the Emperor

a sister. Indeed, she took care of him until his death,
for the duchess only arrived at Paris some days after
the accident. Happily, she came soon enough to see
the duke in a lucid moment, in which he entreated her
forgiveness for his many shortcomings ; and it was
well that he did so, since there was a great deal for
her to forgive, which she willingly did.

In these painful circumstances the Empress was
admirable. She left everything at the Tuileries to
attend to the duke.

So then it was the Princess Mary, Duchess of
Hamilton, his cousin who proposed the Princess of
Vasa as the future Empress.

Prince Louis knew that I had seen much of this
Princess ; for I was often at the Court at Carlsruhe,
being rather a favourite of the Regent, Frederick
William, whom I knew, as well as the Princess
Louise, before their marriage — the latter especially as
a girl at the Anlagen-Schloss near Coblentz, where
the then Prince of Prussia and his wife, the Princess
Augusta, spent a considerable part of each year with
their daughter, Louise, and their son, Frederick —
afterward the Grand Duchess Louise, and the
Emperor, Frederick the Noble.

It is therefore, perhaps, not remarkable that he
should have questioned me about the Princess, and
asked my opinion of her suitability as a wife for him.
He had heard much ; but he was not a man to be
deceived by profuse recommendations and praises,
and he wanted my opinion on some points — an
opinion which he knew he would get from me

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honestly and specifically. Even then the Prince
showed the honourable qualities of his finer nature.
He did not wish to be deceived upon a most important
question — what were the real feelings of the Princess
herself on the subject of marrying him ? He knew
he was much older than she, and had been educated
differently, and that perhaps her feeling was only one
of passive acquiescence in her aunt’s and mother’s
scheme. So to me he entrusted the task of finding
out the real sentiments of the lady towards him ; as
also something more of her education, temperament,
health, and so forth.

I accordingly went to Carlsruhe, and there had a
long conversation with the Princess, and more
especially with Madame E. Steinberg, her principal
lady-in-waiting and gouvernante. I was convinced
from what was said to me that the Princess was de-
lighted at the thought of this marriage, and I found
that she had thoroughly acquainted herself with the
life and character of the man she had decided to
marry — for decided she was.

I was, therefore, scarcely surprised when, upon
bidding me goodbye, she said with a smile, “ Au
revoir. A Paris.” She evidently considered the
question settled. And, as I knew of no personal dis-
qualifications, I naturally thought so also. On my
return to Paris, I reported to the Prince all that had
occurred.

He now proposed to pay a visit to Baden-Baden to
see the Princess and, in person, ask her hand in
marriage. The time for the visit was fixed ; and a
few days later the Prince left Paris, stopping at

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Strasbourg. From there he went to Baden-Baden
and met the Grand Duchess Stephanie and her
daughters, and also the Princess Caroline. The
marriage was considered by the Prince himself to
be no longer in doubt, although, at this time, no
formal offer had been made on either side. This was
to follow upon the return of the Prince to Paris, after
certain questions in regard to settlements and other
necessary matters had been arranged.

All was progressing favourably, when a great
surprise took place. Word came from the Grand
Duchess Stephanie that she had reconsidered the
matter of the marriage of her granddaughter, and
that the hand of Princess Caroline had been promised
to Prince Albert, who was the heir to the throne of
Saxony.

What was the cause of this sudden volte-face ?
The excuse given was a previous engagement more
or less definite. The motive was political, no doubt.
It was certainly an afterthought, dictated in response
to German wishes. It is generally believed that the
opposition to the marriage came from Austria. The
father of the Princess was not opposed to it ; but,
having sought the consent of the Austrian Court to
which he was attached, it is reported that Francis
Joseph gave him to understand that, remembering the
fate of two Austrian archduchesses, Marie Antoinette
and Marie Louise, he was not disposed to approve of
a marriage with a French prince.

The rupture of these matrimonial negotiations was
a cause of humiliation both to the Prince and the
Princess, since matters had advanced so far. But

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the Prince accepted the situation without a word
of complaint, and seemed to feel that he, after all,
had been fortunate, and had escaped “ embarrassing
alliances,” as he called them. Believing implicitly
in his destiny, he did not permit what some would
term an insult to disturb him.

“ If,” said he, “the royal families of Europe do not
want me among them, it is better for me. It certainly
is hardly consistent for us Napoleons, who are of
plebeian origin, to seek alliances with families whose
distinctions come to them by Divine right.”

So ended the dream of the excellent Princess
Mary, Duchess of Hamilton, and others, among
whom was my friend, Madame Thayer. But I do
not think that the Prince was seriously disappointed.
Princess Caroline had been, to a certain extent,
imposed upon him. He had promised to marry
some one, and, having himself no one in view, she
was the most eligible princess proposed to him.
Time also pressed, for he was getting on in years
— he was then forty-four years old.

Once, however, started upon this marriage project,
the one of convenance having failed, it proved to be a
case of the premier pas qtii coute , for he was deter-
mined now to marry, and this time to choose his
consort himself, without any regard to her being a
princess born — as his uncle had done when he chose
to marry the beautiful Vicomtesse de Beauharnais
— the Prince’s own grandmother, the Empress
Josephine — the real Empress, not the Austrian.

In the autumn of 1851 I made the acquaintance of

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a Spanish family, consisting of three persons, a lady
and two daughters.

o

One of the daughters was remarkable, not only
because of her great beauty, but also on account
of her vivacity and intelligence ; and those who
knew her intimately still more admired the kindness
of her heart and her sympathy with all who were
suffering or needy.

The first proof which I had of this trait of her
character was an act of charity towards some poor
Spanish exiles who were living in the United States.
She asked me to send to them, from time to time,
small amounts of money and presents of more or less
value, which, as I have since ascertained, were taken
from her economies. The manner in which she trans-
mitted her gifts was so ingenuous and considerate, and
her whole behaviour was so free from ostentation, that
I soon recognised Eugenie de Montijo, Countess of
Teba — this was the name of the young lady1 — to
be one of the few persons who give simply on
account of the inclination of their heart, and who
do not allow their left hand to know what their
right hand does.

She was living at the time at No. 12 Place
Vendome, not far from my office, and came to see
me generally accompanied by a friend, Madame

1 The name of the young lady was Marie Eugenie de Guzman,
her father, the Count de Teba, having taken the title of Count
de Montijo only on the death of an elder brother. The name
entered in the preamble of her marriage certificate is Eugenie
Guzman, therefore the name Eugenie de Montijo is incorrect,
although it has the sanction of French usage. See Appendix II.

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Zifrey Casas, a lady of American parentage who
had married in Spain, or by her faithful attendant,
Pepa.

The many visits which I received from the young
Countess, partly on account of her interest in her
countrymen across the Atlantic, and partly because
she wished to obtain my professional advice and
assistance, gave me a good opportunity to form an
opinion of her character.

Emotional, sympathetic, generous, quick to be
moved by the impulse of the moment, thinking
little of herself, she always seemed, during these
early days of my acquaintance with her, to be most
happy when she could render a service to others.

One day it happened that while the young lady was
with other professional visitors in my waiting-room
there was also present a friend of the Prince-President
of the French Republic. This gentleman being much
pressed for time, the Countess of Teba, waiving her
right of precedence, permitted to enter first into my
private office, although she had been waiting much
longer than he had ; and the graceful manner in
which this permission was given evidently made an
impression upon him, for on entering my room he
immediately inquired who the beautiful young lady
was that had granted him the precedence.

Not long after this the Countess of Tdba and her
mother, the Countess of Montijo, were among those
who regularly received invitations to the Elys^e
Palace, where the Prince- President then resided ; and
there the young Countess was greatly admired and
attracted the attention of everybody.

90

MADEMOISELLE EUGENIE -COMTESSE DE TEBA.

From a photograph taken in

To face p. 90.

The Marriage of the Emperor

She possessed a singularly striking face, oval in
contour, and remarkable for the purity of its lines ;
a brilliant, light, clear complexion ; blue eyes,
peculiarly soft and liquid, shielded by long lashes
and, when in repose, cast slightly downward ; hair of
a most beautiful golden chestnut colour, a rather thin
nose exquisitely moulded, and a small, delicate mouth
that disclosed when she smiled teeth that were like
pearls. Her figure was above the average height and
almost perfect in its proportions — the waist round,
and the neck and shoulders admirably formed — and,
withal, she possessed great vivacity of expression and
elegance in her movements, together with an inde-
scribable charm of manner. Indeed, she was a
woman of a very rare type physically as well as
morally ; one whose distinguishing qualities always
seemed to me to reveal the existence of Irish rather
than Scotch blood, notwithstanding the name of her
mother’s family — Kirkpatrick. But she was richly
endowed, by inheritance or otherwise, with the best
qualities of more than one race ; and, if it was
true that her beauty was blond and delicate from
her Scotch ancestry, it was no less true that “her
grace was all Spanish, and her wit all French.”

The Prince himself soon recognised the extra-
ordinary personal and mental endowments, and the
i various excellent and characteristic traits of the
Countess. It, therefore, is not to be wondered at
that, when he came to the conclusion that marrying
princesses was not his affair, he should have remem-
bered the lady whom he had so often admired, or
that he renewed the acquaintance purposely and more

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intimately in the autumn of 1852 ; and that it led,
with the rapidity of romance, to an engagement of
marriage which he, having in the meanwhile become
Emperor, formally announced, January 22, 1853, in
the throne room of the Tuileries, to the Senate, the
Legislative Assembly, and the highest officials of his
Government.

The words which the Emperor used on this occasion,
present in their true light the motives that led him to
this union, and are a beautiful appreciation of the
worthiness of his betrothed, who afterward proved so
faithful to him as a wife, not only in the days of
splendour when Fortune smiled upon the Imperial
throne, but also in the hours of misfortune and exile
that followed.

“ She whom I have chosen by preference,” said the
Emperor, “ is of high birth. French at heart by her
education, and by the remembrance of the blood which
her father shed for the cause of the Empire, she has,
as a Spaniard, the advantage of having no relatives
in France to whom she would be obliged to grant
honours and dignities. Endowed with every good
quality of the mind, she will be an ornament to
the throne, and in the hour of danger she will become
one of its most courageous supporters. Catholic and
pious, she will send to Heaven the same prayers as I
for the welfare of France ; gracious and good, she will,
as I firmly hope, revive the virtues of the Empress
Josephine, whose place she is about to take.

“ I come here, then, gentlemen, to say to France :

‘ I have preferred to have for a wife a woman whom I
love and respect, rather than a woman unknown to me

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The Marriage of the Emperor

and with whom the advantages of an alliance would
have been mingled with sacrifices. Without showing
disdain towards any one, I yield to my own inclina-
tions, but after having consulted my reason and my
convictions. In short, having placed independence,
the qualities of the heart, and domestic happiness
above dynastic prejudices and the designs of ambition,
I shall not be less strong, since I shall be more free.’ ”
As might have been expected, the announcement of
this marriage came as a surprise to the French people.
Nor was it at first received with entire satisfaction by
those who, having rallied to the support of the new
Government, had hoped to see it strengthened by an
alliance with the reigning families of Europe. This
feeling of disappointment found expression in various
ways that sometimes were not wanting in piquancy.

One of the persons who had most urgently opposed
the Emperor’s marriage with Mademoiselle de Montijo
was M. Drouyn de Lhuys, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs. On finding that his counsel had been entirely
disregarded, he concluded to send in his resignation to
the Emperor, but, before doing so, he called upon
Mademoiselle de Montijo to pay her his respects
officially. He had scarcely spoken when she said :
“You will permit me to thank you, and very
sincerely, for the advice you have given to the
Emperor with respect to his marriage. Your advice
to him was exactly the same as mine.”

“The Emperor has betrayed me — I see,” said the
Minister.

“ No : the honourable recognition of your sincerity
— the making me acquainted with the opinion of a

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devoted servant who has given utterance to my own
sentiments — this is no betrayal. I told the Emperor,
as you did, that the interests of his throne should be
taken into consideration ; but it is not for me to be his
judge, whether he is right or wrong in believing that
his interests can be reconciled with his sentiments.”

It is hardly necessary to add that M. Drouyn de
Lhuys promptly reversed his opinion concerning
Mademoiselle de Montijo, and retained his portfolio.

A story also is told of a distinguished Senator, who,
having been asked what he thought of the Emperor’s
declaration of his matrimonial intentions addressed to
the representatives of the Government and the people,
replied :

“A fine speech — excellent; but I prefer the sauce
to the fish.”

It seems this remark was reported at the palace,
greatly to the amusement of the parties principally
concerned. Now it so happened that, at a dinner
given at the Tuileries a few weeks later, this Senator
was seated next to the Empress, who, observing that
after having been helped to the turbot, he declined the
sauce, said to him, smiling roguishly :

“ Monsieur, I thought it was the sauce you liked,
and not the fish.”

With rare presence of mind the gentleman replied
after a moment of hesitancy : “ A mistake, Madame,
for which I am now trying to make amends.”

And so nearly all those persons who at first were
inclined to manifest their disappointment or surprise,
discovered they had made a mistake, the moment they
enjoyed the privilege of meeting her Majesty, and

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The Marriage of the E?nperor

were themselves fascinated by her beauty and wit, or
felt the influence of the subtle charm that seemed to come
from the very soul of the woman, and, like an ever-
present atmosphere, invest her sweet and sympathetic
personality. They were now ready to confess that the
Emperor was right when he said to the great digni-
taries of the Empire: “You, gentlemen, when you
come to know her, will be convinced that I have been
inspired by Providence.”

The marriage of the Emperor had the sanction of
public opinion, and there was a touch of romance about
it that made it pleasing to the people. While Lamar-
tine, the shifty Republican, could hardly look with
favour on the Imperial pair, Lamartine, the poet, grace-
fully acknowledged that the Emperor had by this
marriage made real the most beautiful dream a man
can have — that he had raised up the woman he loved,
and had set her above all other women.

On the 30th of January, 1853, I saw the marriage
between Napoleon III. and Mademoiselle Eugenie de
Montijo celebrated in the old cathedral of Notre Dame
with all the splendour and magnificence to which the
monarch of a great nation and the consort of his choice
were entitled. The ceremonial observed on this occa-
sion was quite like that employed at the marriage
of Napoleon and Josephine, but was even more
elaborate and spectacular in its details. The gilded
State carriage surmounted by the Imperial eagle and
drawn by eight horses, in which the Emperor, in the
uniform of a general of division, was seated by the
side of his bride, was the one used by Napoleon
and Josephine on the day of their coronation. The

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approaches to the Tuileries, the courts of the Louvre,
and the streets leading to the cathedral were filled
with an immense crowd of people whose enthusiasm
was unbounded. It would be impossible to describe
the profound impression produced when, after the
passing of the main body of the cortege, the Imperial
carriage was seen advancing, surrounded by the great
officers of the army, and preceded and followed by
squadrons of cavalry, and we heard the hum of voices
— the half-suppressed exclamations of admiration —
then a silence, followed by long-continued vivas — “ vive
/’ E viper eur" — “ vive Eugenie ” — “ vive la France .”
Those who were fortunate enough, as I was, to
catch, through the windows of the coach of glass and
gold, a glimpse of the divinely beautiful bride who sat
beside the Emperor like a captive fairy queen, her
hair trimmed with orange blossoms, a diadem on her
head, her corsage brilliant with gems, wearing a neck-
lace of pearls, and enveloped in a cloud of lace — can
never forget this radiant and yet shrinking figure.
Radiant, she seemed to feel that Fortune had con-
ferred upon her its supremest gift, and that she was
about to realise the prediction once whispered in her
ear by a Spanish gipsy woman, “ the day will come
when you shall be a Queen”; and yet shrinking, as if
she feared that behind all this show of enthusiasm and
splendour there was another world — a world of violence
and of sorrow ; that the things which were seen were
an illusion and vanity, and that the things which were
not seen were the eternal reality. Perhaps she was
thinking of the young Austrian Princess whose marriage
was also celebrated with the greatest pomp ; and of the

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day that followed — the 16th of October, 1793 — when
the shouting of the people was heard by her for the
last time ; for Eugdnie de Montijo even then had
learned by heart this touching story of royal happiness
and despair.

In the cathedral, where the marriage ceremony took
place, the columns and lofty vaults had been decorated
with rich draperies, and banners, and banderoles ; and
palms, and garlands of white blossoms, and banks of
flowers had been scattered everywhere — innumerable
candles lighting up the whole of the vast interior, filled
to its utmost capacity by the great bodies of the State,
the diplomatic corps and the representatives of the
Army, the Church and the cities of France, and by the
elegance and beauty of the world of fashion. The
scene was one of unparalleled magnificence. Nothing
was wanting to invest the occasion with splendour and
solemnity. On entering this ancient church and going
forward to the altar, while a wedding march was
played by an orchestra of five hundred musicians, the
bride was quite overcome by her emotions. But when
the archbishop said to her: “Madame — you declare,
recognise, and swear before God, and before the Holy
Church, that you take now for your husband and legal
spouse the Emperor Napoleon III., here present,” she
responded, in a clear, sweet voice, “ Oui Monsieur .”

If the elegance of her person evoked admiration on
every side, the modest dignity with which she per-
formed her part in this great and imposing ceremony
secured to her the sympathy and good-will of all who
witnessed it.

After the ceremony was over the procession returned

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to the Tuileries in the same order in which it had left
the palace, and the Emperor and the Empress, ascend-
ing the steps of the “ Salle des Marechaux,” came
forward on the balcony, and saluted the assembled
multitude, who returned with loud and repeated vivas
this gracious recognition on the part of their sove-
reigns.

Napoleon, on the morning of his marriage, going
into the dressing-room of Marie Louise, said as he
placed with his own hands a crown upon her head :
“The Empress will wear this crown. It is not beau-
tiful, but it is unique, and I wish to attach it to my
dynasty.” On the 30th of January, 1853, Eugenie de
Montijo entered the Tuileries — the Palace of Catherine
de Medici, of Marguerite de Navarre, of Marie Antoi-
nette, of Josephine, of Marie Louise — in triumph,
wearing upon her head the same Imperial crown. And
she was worthy of this honour ; for from that day the
Empress Eugenie ranked without question among the
most admired and beloved sovereigns of the nineteenth
century ; and, as if she were destined to have over her
predecessors a certain melancholy pre-eminence, her
name is the last of the names of women, the wonderful
story of whose lives has made the Palace of the
Tuileries for ever memorable in French history.

A few days after Eugenie de Montijo — or, as I
had always been accustomed to call her, the Countess
of Tdba — had been installed as Empress at the
Tuileries, she sent word to me by Mademoiselle Pepa,
her confidential maid — who afterward, by marriage
with a subaltern officer, became Madame Pollet — that,

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having need of my professional services, she wished
me to come and see her at the Tuileries.

Pepa informed me that her Majesty desired to see
me personally. The Empress, as the Countess of
Teba, had always been accustomed to come to my
office and to take her turn with the others, and it was
an innovation to ask me to go to her ; so she was
careful, in making this request, to have it appear that
she considered she was asking a favour, or at least
was paying me a special compliment.

On entering her room she received me most
cordially and unaffectedly. We conversed about the
great change in her position, and how it had come to
pass ; and she told me many things that had taken
place during the interval since I had seen her.

I remember, when Pepa came into the room to
speak with the Empress, how they both laughed as
the poor, simple woman who had known the lady
from childhood and had naturally been most familiar
with her as a young girl, tried to say, “ your Majesty.”
She could not get it out. She spoke French with a
strong Spanish accent, and kept laughing as she tried
to call her by her new title. It was most amusing,
and the Empress saw it in a humorous light and
enjoyed it greatly. But with time Pepa and all of
us fell into the way of giving to the Empress her title
“your Majesty.”

As my illustrious and most interesting patient,
although at the moment quite comfortable, had been
suffering greatly and feared a repetition of the same
trouble, and as she had important duties to attend to,
and a reception in the evening, I remained at the

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Tuileries several hours in order to be sure that she
should, if possible, be able to appear at the function,
for which elaborate preparations had been made.
We had, therefore, much time for conversation.

While speaking of the Tuileries, the part which we
were in being one that I had never before visited, the
Empress called my attention to certain articles of
furniture and precious objects, some of which had
belonged to Marie Antoinette. She spoke of the
Queen’s sad fate, and of the souvenirs connected with
the room we were sitting in, and about the historical
associations of the old palace. Much of this con-
versation was to me particularly interesting. There
was in it a vein of sadness or melancholy mingled
with scarcely concealed surprise at her own position
as sovereign mistress where so many great ladies had
lived — to-day the favourites of fortune, to-morrow the
unhappy victims of popular fury, some sent into exile
and some to the scaffold. There was, however, no
indication whatsoever in her deportment of any feeling
of vanity or of pride at being elevated to the throne
and becoming the first lady in the land. In all this
there was a charm, a simplicity of soul which I saw
again in troublous times, in the terrible days of 1870,
when hastening with her from that France where, for
upwards of seventeen years, her goodness, and her
beauty and distinction, had held the world at her feet.

A little incident took place on this day which
revealed to me the strong and romantic attachment
of the Emperor to his lovely wife. It was the first
day since her marriage on which she had suffered
acute pain, and the Emperor expressed the greatest

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sympathy for her, and was most attentive — coming
upstairs from his cabinet several times to inquire how
she was feeling. Just before I left the palace, very
happy to know that my charming patient was no
longer suffering, the Emperor entered the room again,
with a box in his hand, and, approaching the Empress,
took from it a magnificent string of pearls, which he
placed around her neck.

Some time before M. Charles Thelin had told me
that the Emperor possessed a remarkable collection
of pearls, which he had selected one by one, intending
to make with them a necklace for the Empress.
Touched by a feeling of love and compassion, his
Majesty had been unable to keep his secret from her
any longer.

Eugenie de Montijo was not so dazzled by the
splendour of her new position as to forget the com-
panions of her earlier and more simple life. She
invited them to come to see her. Some of them
became her dames du Palais. She wished all of
them to speak to her familiarly, as they used to do.
Her friendly advances towards them were not to
relieve ennui or to fill up a void created in her life by
the formalities of the palace. She now had the power
to help them and to honour them — and this she loved
to do. I may remark here that this kind considera-
tion— this fondness for her friends — was a sentiment
that had its origin in an affection which once having
been felt was sincere and constant, and endured
through good report and evil report to the end.

I have never known a woman that had such reason

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to distrust the sincerity of some of the persons in her
immediate entourage , who was so full of faith in the
good intentions and so abounding in charity towards
the shortcomings of all who claimed to be her friends.
If she could not say something in praise of them, she
preferred to remain silent, unless their conduct was
made a subject of criticism by others, when she was
pretty sure to come to their defence, and sometimes
with a warmth of feeling that was surprising.

Perhaps the explanation of this trait of character is
to be found in her inability to forget a kindness.

When reproached one day for keeping up her in-
tercourse with certain ladies — the Delessarts — who
were well-known for their Orleanist sympathies, her
reply was : “ They were very kind to me before my
marriage, and I never forget my old friends.” Indeed,
I do not believe there is a single person now living
that has ever rendered her Majesty a notable service
who has not heard her say — and more than once —
“ I never can forget what you have done for me.”

The attachment of the Empress to her old friends
and the associates of her earlier days is strikingly
illustrated by her relations with, and the consideration
which she always had for, her principal lady’s maid,
Madame Pollet. “ Pepa,” as she was familiarly
called, was the daughter of a Carlist general ; but
when very young she entered into the personal ser-
vice of the Countess of Teba. Her devotion to her
mistress was unbounded, and she soon obtained, as
she deserved, her esteem and confidence in equal
measure. With her Majesty, Pepa went to the
Tuileries, where she was entrusted with the general

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The Marriage of the Emperor

direction over a multitude of things connected with
the domesticity of the palace, and became, in a way,
a personage — at least to a certain circle. She was a
little woman, not in good health, fretful, irritable, and
timid. Her person, her manner, her accent, her
devotion to her mistress, the fact that she was the
direct intermediary between her Majesty and the
tradesmen, and the very confidence reposed in her,
in all her doings and dealings, exposed her constantly
to ridicule and reproach. It is, therefore, not sur-
prising that great injustice should have been done this
faithful attendant and confidant of her Majesty by
the personnel of the palace and the chroniclers of the
doings of the Imperial Court. But the Empress knew
her sterling qualities, her sincerity, and her integrity,
and appreciated her accordingly. In fact, she never
failed to defend with warmth her “poor Pepa ” against
every attack, from whatever quarter it might come.

“ Yes,” said the Empress to me one day, “ Pepa is
timid ; she starts at the rustling of a curtain, and turns
pale at the moaning of the wind, and screams at the
sight of a mouse, and is in a constant state of terror
lest we should all be assassinated ; but let her see or
think that I am in any real danger — ah ! then she
is no longer afraid, but has the courage of a little
lioness.” Pepa is long since dead ; but she never
in life was more devoted to her mistress than the
Empress is still devoted to the memory of her very
humble, but most sincere, friend and servant.

Notwithstanding the great change in her rank, the
Empress remained unchanged in her character ; and
unchanged also was the unaffected courtesy with

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which she received all who came into her presence.
Nor did her kindness and love for everything that
was true and noble grow less. I have seen her
frequently during many years ; I have seen her sur-
rounded by luxury and the pageantries of the most
brilliant Court in Europe ; I have witnessed her
greatest triumphs, but I cannot recall one moment in
which her demeanour towards others, no matter how
humble their station in life, was different from that by
which she attracted the sympathy of all those who
knew her as a young lady. She always had the
excellent good sense never to impose herself as
Empress upon the persons whom she had known
before her elevation to the throne ; and yet she never
forgot that she was no longer of that world to which
she had once belonged. In a word, she possessed an
instinctive appreciation of the requirements of her
position, and so happily harmonised and combined her
natural impulse to be herself with a sense of the
reserve and dignity becoming her exalted rank, that
she won the praises of all. Queen Christine pro-
nounced her deportment admirable, and declared that
she carried herself “neither too high nor too low.”
And the Queen of England was of the same opinion.
At the time of the visit of their Imperial Majesties to
London, in 1855, the Queen writes of the Empress in
her diary as follows : “ She is full of courage and
spirit, and yet so gentle, with such innocence and
enjouement , that the ensemble is most charming. With
all her great liveliness, she has the prettiest and most
modest manner.” And a day or two later the Queen
writes, “ Her manner is the most perfect thing I have

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ever seen — so gentle, and graceful, and kind ; and
the courtesy so charming, and so modest and retiring
withal.” 1

And yet while she was so condescending and so
courteous to all, and so easy of approach, who that
ever saw the Empress on great ceremonial occasions
will forget the dignity as well as grace with which she
responded to the salutations she received, or the grand
manner of her carriage ? The appearance of her
Majesty on some of these occasions has doubtless
suggested to the mind of more than one person the
words used by Saint Simon when speaking of the
Duchess of Burgundy : “ Sa demarche dtait celle d'une
deesse sur les nuees”

But it was the amiable and gentle manner of the
Empress, the absence of every sign of superciliousness
or of undue pride after her elevation to the throne,
even more than her extraordinary beauty and esprit ,
that disarmed opposition, and won for her the admira-
tion even of those who, jealous of her rare fortune,
were at first most disposed to criticise her. And such
criticism as she was subjected to ! How insignificant
in reality it always was! Never a word that cast a
reflection on her goodness, her loyalty, or fidelity as
a wife and mother ! The foundation on which her
character as Empress and woman rested was un-
assailable. But the anti-imperialist gossips never
grew weary of tattling about her love of personal
display, of inventorying her dresses, and bonnets, and
jewels, and furs, and of hypocritically bemoaning the
“ luxe off rdn'e” — the unbridled luxury — of the Court.

1 “ Life of the Prince Consort,” by Theodore Martin, vol. iii.

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Just as if it was not one of the principal functions of a
sovereign in a country like France — the arbitre de la
mode for the world — to set the fashions of the day,
and to regulate the etiquette and ceremonials of the
Court !

And most eminently was she qualified to prescribe
and govern the “ form ” at a Court brilliant and fond
of display and originality to the verge of eccentricity.
It was with the most exquisite tact and taste that she
fixed the line where fashion stopped, and to pass
beyond which would have been ridiculous. The beau
monde everywhere accepted her decisions in these
matters as ne plus ultra. From the day she entered
the Tuileries the Empress was the ruler of the
world of fashion and the supreme authority with
her sex, in the four quarters of the globe, in all
matters pertaining to the graces and elegancies of
social life ; and through her patronage the names of
the couturieres , and modistes , and florists of Paris
became famous in every land.

And yet most ladies who are at all prominent in our
fin de siecle society would probably be greatly sur-
prised were I to tell them that the Empress, when
one day at Farnborough reference was made to these
particular critics and the alleged extravagance of her
wardrobe, said in my presence : “ Flow very ridiculous
all this is. Well, I suppose they think they must say
something. Why ! with the exception of a few gowns
made for special ceremonial occasions ” (those which
she used very happily to call “ mes robes politiques ”)
“ during the whole time I was at the Tuileries I never

O

wore a dress that cost more than fifteen hundred

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The Marriage of the Emperor

francs, and most of my dresses were much less ex-
pensive.”

A writer, who is no friend of the Empress, has the
grace to say, when speaking of her : “ We live at a
time when queens are exposed to public observation
more than ever before, when they cannot put on a
dress without having it described by fifty newspapers,
when twenty articles are published every day about
their fetes, their amusements, their jewels, and their
head-dresses. This publicity tends to lower queens
in the estimation of the people, who no longer see
anything but the frivolous side of their lives.

“To support without concern, as also without
haughtiness, the gaze of so many people who are
constantly examining you ; to take, without having
the appearance of it, one’s part of the responsibility
of governing, and the most dangerous, perhaps ; to
appear at the same time serious and frivolous, a
woman of the world and of the home, and religious
without being a devotee ; to dress without affectation ;
to discuss literature without pedantry, and politics
without embarrassment ; to read what a well-instructed
woman should read ; to say what a clever woman is
expected to say ; to know how to speak to women
and to men, to the young and to the old ; to be, in a
word, always on the stage — this is the role of a queen.”

And certainly very few persons will be disposed to
deny the truth and justice of this writer’s conclusion
that “ Queen or Empress is a difficult trade in a
country like France, and in a time like that in which
we live ! ” 1

1 Taxil Delord, “ Histoire du Second Empire,” tome i. p. 518.

10 7

The Second French Empire

Soon after the fall of the Empire, stories were put
in circulation to the effect that the Imperial family had
accumulated a large fortune, which they had been
very careful to remove from France. It was alleged
that, always uncertain as to the stability of a Govern-
ment of adventure, they had with great discretion
been “ making hay while the sun shone,” and had
invested considerable sums in English consols, and,
wonderful to relate, in New York real estate. The
honour even was attributed to me of having- advised
the American investments, and also of having acted
as the agent in these transactions. Not only were all
these stories untrue, but, for those making me a party
to the financial affairs of the Imperial family, there
was never the slightest foundation.1

1 Among the papers and correspondence of the Imperial family,
found at the Tuileries, and published in 1870 by the Government of
the National Defence, is a scrap containing a miscellaneous list of
property amounting to nearly a million pounds sterling. It is with-
out a heading, or any indication of its origin or character. It is
called, however, “a very precious document,” and is assumed to be
an inventory of the personal property of the Emperor, deposited at
the Barings in 1866. It is still used to give credit to the stories
referred to above. Among the items in the list is this one, namely,
“Uniforms, ^16,000.” Why Napoleon III. should have had, in
1866, sixteen thousand pounds worth of uniforms stowed away in
the bank of the Barings, in London, seems to have greatly puzzled
the editors of the papers and correspondence referred to. Their
conjectures are highly amusing. “ Les fragments incomplets ram asses
dans de vieux papiers which formed a very large part of this corre-
spondence, have been officially discredited. (See “ Enquete Parle-
mentaire,” 1872, p. 14.) In fact, as it was soon discovered that the
Government could derive no political benefit from the publication of
these papers, only one volume was published officially ; and the
papers, after having passed through the hands of the Republican
authorities — excepting a few that went astray — were returned to the
heirs of Napoleon III. See Appendix III.

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The Marriage of the Emperor

The Emperor’s generosity, his prodigality even
was notorious. The direct appeals to him for pecu-
niary assistance were constant, and he gave away
immense sums to charities of every kind. The Em-
press was the Lady Bountiful of the reign ; but the
Emperor delighted to aid her in her benevolent work
and to make her the agent and dispenser of his own
liberalities. The demands upon the privy purse were
endless. Often it was drawn upon to supplement the
lack of public funds. The account of the Imperial
civil list, which has been published, shows that during
his reign the Emperor distributed personally over
ninety millions of francs in public and private bene-
factions. The last large sum of money he had in his
possession, 1,000,000 francs, he ordered to be dis-
tributed among the troops that capitulated at Sedan,
reserving absolutely nothing for his personal use.
During his reign he made no monetary provision for
the future. When he left France, in September,
1870, his personal fortune was no greater than it was
when he came to France twenty-two years before.
He owned the chateau at Arenenberg, which brought
him no income, and a little property in Italy, from
which he derived a small revenue — all of which he
had inherited. Had it not been for the private
fortune of the Empress, the family would have then
been at once reduced to very straitened circumstances.

The Empress was the owner of some property in
Spain, the Villa Eugenia at Biarritz, besides other
real estate in France ; some of which she subsequently
generously gave to the French people. But a large
part of the Empress’ fortune consisted of jewels, most

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The Second French Empire

of which had been presented to her at the time of her
marriage, and some of which were of very great value
— among them a magnificent collection of pearls, and
several large diamonds of extraordinary purity and
brilliancy that originally belonged to Marie Antoinette
and formed a part of the famous “ diamond neck-
lace,” the tragic story of which has been so powerfully
told by Carlyle. These jewels were sold after their
Majesties were settled in England, as was also the
property at Biarritz, and the proceeds were invested
in income-yielding securities. But, altogether, the
fortune of the Imperial family was not large, par-
ticularly in view of the claims of needy dependents
and obligations of various kinds, which could neither
be repudiated nor ignored.

I may remark that very few of the persons pro-
minently connected with the Second Empire appear
to have accumulated wealth ; and that having lost
their official positions after the fall of the Imperial
Government, great numbers of those who were
advanced in life were reduced to extreme indigence.
When the attention of a French Republican is called
to this fact — that money-making was not the business
of the servants of the Empire — he shrugs his shoulders
and cynically says : “ I suppose they thought it was
going to last for ever.”

It is not difficult to understand how impossible it
was to satisfy all those servitors who felt that they
had a right to appeal to their late sovereigns for
pecuniary assistance ; or to prevent in some cases
the disagreeable consequences of a failure to respond
to such appeals.

i io

The Mar?'iage of the Emperor

But there was another class of solicitors far more
difficult to deal with, men and women who were
anxious to espouse the Imperialist cause — for money.
It was impossible to listen to these people, and their
assistance was politely declined. But they went away
carrying with them a bitter feeling of disappointment
that subsequently found expression in petulant and
vicious attacks, directed more particularly against the
Empress, whose good sense in refusing to be ex-
ploited was attributed to parsimony and niggardliness.
There were times when these personal attacks were
absolutely heartless ; when even the mourning of a
mother was made the pretext for the most cruel
insinuations. These savage thrusts were keenly felt,
but the wisdom and real greatness of character which
the Empress possesses were never more conspicuously
shown than in her ability to listen to these slanders in
silence — and if in sorrow, in pity also.

Although misfortune finally dethroned the Empress
Eugenie it was certainly not because she had proved
unworthy of her high position. She, as well as her
magnanimous husband, had to suffer on account of
being too trustful and generous to others. They lost
their Empire because they loved their people, believed
them, and confided in them. History may judge the
monarch and his companion in the Imperial dignity
by the political events of their reign. It is the
privilege, it is the duty, of the friend to judge the
man and the woman, to judge their hearts. But if
historical writings were free from errors of fact and
were a philosophical record of the actions of men,
stating correctly their motives and their material and

The Second French Empire

moral limitations, and giving credit to whom credit
was due, many of those persons who are condemned
by public opinion would be admired and honoured.

Indeed, few women who have sat upon a throne
have a larger claim to the love and esteem of their
people, or have shown to the world a higher and
more charming personal character than the noble
consort of Napoleon III. The conduct of her whole
life bears witness to this.

The first act of the Countess of T6ba after her
engagement to the Emperor, like so many of her
acts, was one of charity. The Municipal Council of
Paris, desirous to show its devotion to the Emperor’s
bride, had voted a sum of 600,000 francs for the
purpose of purchasing for her a set of diamonds.

When the Countess heard of this she addressed to
the Prefect of the Seine the following letter :

“ Monsieur le PrEfet, — I have been moved greatly
by hearing of the generous decision which the Muni-
cipal Council of Paris has taken, and by which it
manifests its sympathetic approval of the union which
the Emperor is about to contract. Nevertheless, it
would pain me to think that the first public document
to which my name is attached at the moment of my
marriage should record a considerable expense for the
city of Paris.

“ You will, therefore, please permit me to decline
your gift, however flattering it is to me. You will
make me happier by using for charitable purposes the
sum that you have appropriated for the purchasing of
the diamond set which the Municipal Council intended
to present to me.

1 12

The Marriage of the Emperor

“ I do not wish that my marriage should impose any
new burden on the country to which I belong from
this moment ; and the only ambition I have is to
share with the Emperor the love and esteem of the
French people.

“ I beg you, M. le Prdfet, to express to your Council
my very sincere thanks, and to accept the assurance
of my great esteem.

“ Eug£nie Comtesse de T£ba.

“Palais de l’Elysee, January 26, 1853.”

In conformity with this wish of the bride of the
Emperor the sum voted by the City Council was
used for the erection of an establishment in the Fau-
bourg Saint Antoine, where young girls receive a
professional education. This establishment was
opened in the year 1857, and placed under the pro-
tection of her Majesty ; in it were accommodations
for three hundred pupils.

But not satisfied with declining the gift of the Paris
Municipal Council and suggesting its use for charitable
purposes, the Countess of Teba set the example she
wished others to follow, by taking the 250,000 francs
the Emperor had placed among her wedding presents,
and sending them to be distributed among the poor.

In order to be always informed of cases where help
and assistance to the sick were especially needed, the
Empress, during the whole period of her reign, was
surrounded by a staff of persons whose business it
was to inquire into the condition of the poor and
suffering, and to report the result of their investiga-
tions to her personally.

vol. 1. 1 13

1

The Second French Empire

Her Majesty not only generously disposed of her
fortune in charitable work and gave assistance in
special cases on the representation of others, but she
went herself to visit the needy, even in the most
remote quarters of her capital.

Frequently, and especially in winter, when the
indigent suffer the most, the Empress left her palace
incognito , accompanied by one faithful attendant only,
to visit the dwellings where she had been informed
there was destitution and distress. On many occa-
sions she ascended to the attics where the poor
persons lived, not minding the fatigue, and sat down
by the beds, without fearing contagion, to encourage
the sick by her presence and with kind words.

The courage and self-sacrifice she at times exhibited,
when engaged in benevolent and charitable work,
were conspicuously shown during her memorable visits
to the cholera hospitals in Paris and at Amiens.

On October 23, 1865, cholera was epidemic in the
city of Paris, and the deaths had within a few days
increased so rapidly, that a state of panic reigned
among the inhabitants. Most of those who were able
to do so had left, or were preparing to leave, the city,
but the Empress Eugenie took this opportunity to
give to her subjects an example of courage. It is
well known that fear is a very effective agent in the
propagation of disease. The Empress, wishing to
show that there was no good reason to fear, visited
successively the cholera patients at the Beaujon,
Lariboisiere, and Saint Antoine hospitals.

I may mention a little incident that occurred at this
time. When visiting the Hospital of Saint Antoine,

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The Marriage of the Emperor

the Empress addressed a question to a patient ; the
man, whose sight had become weak, on account of
his being in a state of collapse and at the point of
death, answered, “Yes, my sister.”

“ My friend,” said the Lady Superior of the hospital,
“it is not I who speak to you, but the Empress.”

“ Do not correct him, my good Mother,” said her
Majesty; “it is the most beautiful name he could
have given to me.”

And when, on returning to the palace, one of her
ladies-in-waiting, having learned where she had been,
said : “ I am sorry you did not ask me to go with you
— if I am permitted to participate in your pleasures, I
think it is only right that I should share your dangers,”
the Empress replied : “No, my dear ; it was my duty
as Empress to take this risk ; but I should do very
wrongly were I to request you, who are a mother and
have other duties, to imperil your life unnecessarily.”
In the following year the cholera raged fearfully
among the unfortunate inhabitants of Amiens, where
the alarm was greater, if possible, than it had been in
Paris. On the 4th of July, upon the receipt of the
news of the enormous number of deaths that had
occurred there, the Empress left her capital, accom-
panied by the Countess de Lourmet and the Marquis
de Piennes, and hastened to Amiens, where, imme-
diately upon arriving, she drove to the Hotel Dieu.
She visited all the wards of this hospital without ex-
ception, stopping at the bed of every patient. Taking
their hands, she spoke to them kindly, and perhaps
saved the lives of many by thus reviving their hopes.
As she was about to depart, two little children who

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The Second French Empire

had been made orphans by the epidemic were pointed
out to her by M. Cornuau. When the Empress be-
held them, she instantly said : “I adopt them. They
shall be provided for.” Many of the bystanders, at
these words of her Majesty, were moved to tears.

From the Hotel Dieu, the Empress drove to the
City Hall, where she remained for a short time, and
afterward visited the hospitals in the Rue de Noyon,
kept by the Petites-Sceurs-des-Pauvres , the charitable
institutions in the Ouartier Saint- Leu, and in the Rue
Gresset, and many other hospitals besides. And then
she went to the great Cathedral — the noble and solemn
magnificence of which so impressed Napoleon, that
he exclaimed : “ An atheist would not feel at home
here ! ” — to pray to God to deliver the good city of
Amiens from the power of the scourge.

In order to perpetuate the remembrance of this visit
to Amiens, a painting representing the Empress at the
bed of a cholera patient was placed in one of the halls
of the museum of that city. The Municipal Council
of Amiens has, however, lately ordered this painting
to be taken away. But the visit of her Majesty, who
came as an angel of pity in the hour of suffering, will
long be remembered by the inhabitants of the ancient
capital of Picardy.

Always faithful to her Church, and sedulously
observant of her religious obligations and duties,
the Empress is absolutely free from any suspicion
of sacerdotalism.

As the Emperor himself said of her : “ She is pious
but not bigoted.” How could she ever have been

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The Marriage of the Emperor

bigoted, with Henri Beyle as the mentor of her youth,
and M^rimde the friend of her later years ; both
accomplished litterateurs and men of the world, but
materialists both, and each capable — if men ever were
— of eating a priest for breakfast? Indeed, the society
in which she passed her whole life from her earliest
childhood, if not precisely latitudinarian, was one of
great intellectual breadth, in which questions of every
sort were discussed on every side and with the utmost
freedom.

When M. Duruy proposed to open the University
for “ the higher education ” of girls he brought down
upon himself the wrath of the ultra-Catholic party, led
by Dupanloup, the fiery Bishop of Orleans, and
encouraged by Pius IX. himself, who praised the
Bishop for having “ denounced those men who,
charged with the administration of public affairs, were
favouring the designs of impiety by new and unheard-
of attempts, and imprudently putting the last hand to
the ruin of social order.” That such opinions were
not her opinions, the Empress did not hesitate to
openly declare, and she emphasised her position with
respect to these “ designs of impiety ” by sending her
nieces to attend the lectures at the Sorbonne.

Whatever in her own mind she might hold to be
the ultimate truth, she had learned and believed that
religion was largely a personal matter and an inherit-
ance, and, consequently, has always regarded with
tolerance, and with sympathy even, the members of
every confession and the worshippers at altars other
than her own. And this tolerance is genuine and
true. It is no product of policy or indifference. It is

ll7

The Second French Empire

the result of knowledge. For the Empress has dis-
covered, as many of us have, that respect for the
temples of others in no way weakens, but rather
strengthens, the veneration in which we hold our own
holy places.

I shall never forget her unconcealed indignation on
a certain occasion — since she has been living in
England — when some one remarked : “ It was the
man’s religion, I suppose, that condemned him.”
“No!” said she, starting up suddenly; “a religion
should condemn no one. I don’t believe it. It would
be a disgrace to our Christian civilisation — to any
civilisation.” And turning towards me, she continued :
“ You are a Protestant, I am a Catholic, another is a
Jew. Is the difference in our religious opinions, in
our forms of worship of one and the same great God,
a reason why we should not be equal before the law ?
Is it on the pretext of these differences that we are
to be refused justice in our courts ? The idea is
monstrous ! There is but one justice before God ;
and it belongs to all men alike, rich or poor, black or
white, Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile.” And
these opinions — this large and tolerant spirit — owed
nothing to her altered situation in life and a new
environment.

Some time in the early sixties, the Grand Rabbi of
France received a note asking him to come to the
Tuileries on the following morning. His astonish-
ment was great. What had he done that should have
provoked this sudden summons? With fear and
trepidation he went to the palace, and was ushered
into the apartment of a chamberlain. Here he was

1 1 8

The Marriage of the Emperor

told that the Empress wished to see him. On being
introduced into her cabinet the Empress, to his sur-
prise, received him very graciously ; but he was, if
possible, still more astonished when he learned her
Majesty’s object in requesting him to come to the
palace : she wished to obtain his advice and co-

operation in a charity in which she was greatly
interested — one intended for the special benefit of
the Jews.

Nor did the Empress restrict her liberalities and
activities to work that was merely eleemosynary and
philanthropic. She was keenly interested in every-
thing that might extend the moral power, the civilising
influence, the language, and the fame of the French
nation. She was ever ready to encourage literature,
art, and science by appreciative words and helpful
odfts.

O

Those famous “ house parties ” at Compiegne were
not assemblies, as so often represented, of men and
women preoccupied with fashion and the frivolities of
life, but of persons distinguished in the liberal pro-
fessions and arts, or for their special accomplishments
or personal achievements. An invitation to pass a
week in her society was among the gracious ways the
Empress took to encourage those who were striving to
widen and enrich the field of knowledge and cultivate
a love of the true and the beautiful in the service of
man, and to express her recognition of the merits of
a Leverrier or a Pasteur, of an Ernest Legouve, a
Gerome, or a Gounod. And was it not Flandrin who
wrote to his friend Laurens to tell him how the
Empress never ceased in her attentions to him while

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! The Second French Rmpire

he was a guest at Compiegne ? That this generous
hospitality was appreciated, at the time, by those who
were privileged to enjoy it, we may feel quite sure
when a man of the eminence and sobriety of speech of
M. Victor Cousin — who always stood aloof from the
Empire — could write to her and say : “ The esteem of
such a person as you ought to satisfy the most
ambitious.”

But for the things of the mind themselves she had
a genuine love. Nothing delighted her more than to
be able to steal away with some book that had cap-
tured her fancy, and, all alone by herself, devour its
contents. She was also fond of drawing, and of
painting in water-colours ; and she made many
original designs and sketches, intended to show land-
scape effects, for the use of the engineers who were
engaged in laying out the Bois de Boulogne. She
was even a competitor for the prize offered for the
best design for the new Opera House ; and if she
failed to obtain it, she at least had the satisfaction of
hearing that her work was judged to be of sufficient
excellence to entitle it to an “honourable mention.”

Much of the decorative painting in the Empress’
apartments at the Tuileries was designed and
executed under her immediate direction. Taking
Cabanel one day into her cabinet de travail — “ There,”
said she, “ is a panel — you see there is nothing on it
but a cord. Make me a picture for it. If you don’t,”
she continued, looking at the artist with the utmost
gravity, “ the cord can be used to hang — you.” And
so it was that to escape being hung himself, Cabanel
painted his famous picture of “ Ruth ” — and then his

The Marriage of the Emperor

fine portrait of Napoleon III., that was placed in the
same room.

The Empress was a sincere lover of Art, of healthy
Art, of architecture, of pictures of nature as seen out-
of-doors under the sky, of the mysterious and ever-
changing sea, and of the land in its infinite variety of
shape, of texture, and of colour — of mountains, and
valleys, and streams, and fields, and trees, and cattle.
Indeed, for homely, rural pictures she has always had
a strong predilection. One, therefore, will not be
surprised to hear that she was an early admirer of the
works of Rosa Bonheur, or that she publicly recog-
nised the merits of that highly gifted woman by
attaching with her own hands the Cross of the Legion
of Honour to the lapel of Rosa’s jacket. But gifted
as she was with fine artistic sense, she appreciated
genius wherever she saw it. How much M. Violet le
Due, the famous archaeological architect, owed to her
may never be known. Not always, however, was
her generous patronage forgotten. The deposed
sovereign still possesses many souvenirs of grateful
remembrance from artists whom she encouraged and

o

aided when she had the power to do so. But the one
cherished above all others, and never out of her
Majesty’s sight when she is at Farnborough, is Car-
peaux’ statue of the Prince Imperial standing by the
side of his dog Nero — a work of beauty — a figure full
of grace, the lines in the face of which are as pure
and charming as those in the bust of the young
Augustus.

With the extraordinary curiosity to know that
characterised the Empress, it is not surprising that

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The Second French Empire

she was passionately fond of travelling ; that she
wished to see the great world beyond the borders of
France, and loved to visit strange lands, and to listen
to reports and stories about distant or unexplored
countries. Indeed, such was her interest in these
matters, that in July, 1869, she set aside from her own
private purse the sum of 200,000 francs as a perpetual
fund, the interest of which — estimated at 10,000 francs
— was to be awarded annually to the Frenchman who
during the preceding year should have made the most
important contribution to geographical knowledge.

And every one knows the deep interest she took in
the construction of the Suez Canal ; how warmly she
espoused the cause of M. de Lesseps in 1865 ; how
she encouraged him in the hours of his greatest diffi-
culty ; how he acknowledged her to be the “guardian
angel of the canal,” to have been to him “what
Isabella, the Catholic, was to Christopher Columbus” ;
and how she went to Egypt to enjoy with him his
triumph, and to rejoice during those glorious and
splendid days when the waters of the Red Sea and
those of the Mediterranean were formally joined
together, and a new pathway was opened to the com-
merce of the world by French genius, energy, and
perseverance. I can never forget her radiant figure
as she stood on the bridge of the Aigle, while the
Imperial yacht slowly passed by the immense throng
that had assembled on the banks of the canal to greet
her Majesty on her arrival at Ismalia. What a wel-
come she received from those children of the desert !
“ Vive 1' Impdratrice ! ” “ Vive Eugenie!" — with

cannon firing, and a thousand flags and banners

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! The Marriage of the Emperor

waving-. But not to herself did she take these
honours. It was to France that she gave them — as,
finally overcome with patriotic feeling, she covered
her eyes with her handkerchief to suppress her tears.
And the pity of it all ! Only a few years later this
great work with its vast consequences slipped for ever
out of the feeble hands that held it.

While recording here some of my personal impres-
sions and souvenirs relating particularly to those
moral attributes with which in my judgment her
Majesty was so richly endowed, it may be interesting
to note that, after the fall of the Empire, there was
found at the Tuileries a manuscript in the handwriting
of the Emperor, containing his own appreciation of
the character of his consort. It was written in 1868,
fifteen years after his marriage.

In it, among other things, he says : “ The character
of the Empress still remains that of a lady of the
simplest and most natural tastes. . . . The lot of all
classes of the unfortunate constantly awakens her
special solicitude. . . . How many generous reforms
she still pursues with marvellous perseverance ! A
little of the young Phalansterian is still to be found in
her. The condition of women singularly preoccupies
her. Her efforts are given to the elevation of her
sex. ... At Compiegne nothing is more attractive
than a tea-party of the Empress ( un thd de l' Im-
pdratrice).

“ Surrounded by a select circle, she talks with equal
facility upon the most abstract questions, or on the
most familiar topics of the day. The freshness of her
powers of perception, and the strength, the boldness

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The Second French Empire

even, of her opinions at once impress and captivate.
Her mode of expressing- herself, occasionally incorrect
is full of colour and of life. With astonishing power
of exact expression in conversation on common affairs,
she rises, in remarks on matters of State or morality,
to a pitch of real eloquence.

“ Pious without being bigoted, well informed with-
out being pedantic, she talks on all subjects without
constraint. She perhaps is too fond of discussion.
Very sprightly in her nature, she often lets herself be
carried away by her feelings, which have more than
once excited enmities ; but her exaggerations have
invariably, for their foundation, the love of that which
is good.”

The love and admiration of the Emperor for her
whom he had chosen to be his life companion only
increased as the years passed. He was proud of her
beauty ; so much so that he was heard to say, more
than once, as she appeared, dressed for some public
occasion, “ Comme elle est belle!" But he was in
reality, as one may see from the language he uses in
describing his consort, still prouder of her intellectual
and moral qualities. He was for ever charmed by the
brilliancy of her conversation, and still more so by
the sincerity of her character and the purity of her
ideals in all matters of conduct. The Emperor and
the Empress thoroughly understood and thoroughly
appreciated each other ; and their mutual affection
was indissolubly united in their love of an only son, a
love which knew no bounds and was complete and
perfect. This was the light of the life of each.

Were I to express in a few words what to me has

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The Marriage of the Emperor

always seemed to be the distinguishing quality of her
Majesty’s character, I should say it is her perfect
naturalness. She was always at home, in every
sense of that word. In whatever situation she might
be placed, she was as free from self-consciousness as
a child. It was the spontaneity of the spoken word,
the freedom of movement, its instinctive grace, and,
above all, the spiritual sincerity apparent in every
word and act, that gave to her personality its irre-
sistible charm. And yet this characterisation would
fail to express the whole truth, did I not say that
her Majesty is not exempt from the defects of her
qualities. Had she permitted herself to be less under
the empire of her natural impulses, and less frequently
given to the vivacious expression of her feelings and
her thoughts, and been more observant of the con-
ventionalities that were inseparable from her official
station and were often imperative, she might have
avoided much of the criticism to which she has been
subjected and to which, I have no doubt, she for the
most part unconsciously and innocently exposed her-
self. She has suffered, and sometimes severely, in
the judgment of the world, as have other women — as
does all emotional, imaginative humanity that is in the
habit of speaking with little premeditation and with-
out much reserve. To words expressing merely the
passing sentiment of the moment a meaning was often
imputed which they were never intended to convey.
Sometimes they were supposed to represent her
political convictions and sometimes her personal
antipathies. They generally represented neither.

To one of his friends who thought he had occasion

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The Second French Rmpire

to complain of a rather sharp remark addressed to
him by her Majesty, the Emperor replied: “You
know the Empress is very hasty — but in reality she is
very fond of you !”

As for her Majesty’s political convictions and
sympathies, I will only say, in this connection, that
they have been grossly misrepresented — for partisan
purposes. The 4th of September must be justified ;
it is always injustice that requires instant and per-
sistent justification. It is the old — the everlasting
story : “And then they began to accuse Him, saying,
We found this fellow perverting the nation.”

When the protagonists of the Third Republic have
passed away, and the history of the Second Empire
can be judged without prejudice, the true character of
the Empress Eugenie — her public virtues, her good-
ness and her kindness, especially to the poor, will be
recognised and gratefully remembered by the French
people. It is the business, it is the duty, of posterity
to rectify the mistakes of contemporary opinion ; but
happily, as Alexandre Dumas, the younger, has
wittily said of this opinion, when it relates to French
affairs : “ La postdritd commence aux frontieres de
la France

CHAPTER IV

THE IMPERIAL COURT THE WAR OF THE REBELLION

The Imperial Court — “ Paris the heaven of Americans ” — The
banquet to General John A. Dix — The American colony —
How things have changed — Parisian Society in those days —
Causes of its decadence — Its “ exoticism ” — Sunt lacrimse
rerum — The War of the Rebellion — The Emperor not un-
friendly to our Government — Mr. William M. Dayton — How
I kept the Emperor informed with respect to the progress
of the war — The Roebuck incident — The Emperor is urged
to recognise the Southern Confederacy — How he came to
suggest friendly mediation — He sends for me to come
to Compiegne — The interview and what came of it — My
visit to America — Interviews with Mr. Lincoln and Mr.
Seward — Visit to City Point — Conversations with General
Grant — His opinion of “ political generals ” — The Emperor’s
first words on my return — Why the Imperial Government
did not recognise the Southern Confederacy — The Mexican
Expedition — The assassination of Mr. Lincoln — The United
States Sanitary Commission — The Empress’ letter to me.

I HAD the honour of being among the first of
the Americans that the Emperor knew inti-
mately, although before I made his acquaintance in
Paris he had visited the United States. Having
arrived there in March, 1837, with the intention
of remaining at least a year for the purpose of
studying the institutions of the country, in less than
three months he was called back to Europe suddenly

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The Second French Empire

by the illness of his mother. Of the few acquaint-
ances he made in this brief visit he retained to the
end of his life very pleasant memories ; for the most
enduring trait in his character, and the one perhaps
most strongly marked, was his lively remembrance
of kindnesses shown him, particularly when he was
an exile. He never forgot a person, however lowly,
who had been kind to him in England, Germany,
Italy, or wherever else he had lived ; and he after-
ward, when Emperor, gave to some of these persons
positions of which they were scarcely worthy. He
would even go to much trouble to find out what
had become of men who made no effort to recall
themselves to his memory. It was most natural,
therefore, that he should remember his visit to
America, under the unhappy circumstances which
caused him to leave Europe, and never forgot the
attentions he received while in New York and in
other cities of the United States, for they were
bestowed when he was in the greatest need of
sympathy and most susceptible of kindness.

At no court in Europe were Americans more en
evidence than at that of the Tuileries during the entire
reign of Napoleon III. and the Empress Eugenie.
They both spoke the English language perfectly, and
the Emperor had that broad way of looking at
things, those liberal ideas, that love of progress,
which enabled him to appreciate the greatness of
our rapidly-growing country, the energy of our men,
the beauty and elegance of our women, their sparkling
wit and self-dependence. In fact, Americans were
always well received at the Imperial Court, especially

128

THE EMPRESS EUGENIE.

From a photograph taken about 18G5.

To face />. 120,

The b?iperial Court

if they were men or women of distinction, intelligence,
and refinement ; and the number of these, particularly
of women remarkable for their social accomplishments,
who were to be found in Paris during the Empire,
either as residents or as occasional visitors, was very
large.

Less rigid in its etiquette than most European
courts, and at the same time more splendid in its
ceremonial forms ; the centre of political power on the
Continent, and the mirror of fashion for the whole
world ; a stage on which were assembled the cele-
brities of the day, statesmen, diplomatists, generals,
persons eminent in letters and in art, men dis-
tinguished in every field of human interest, and
women as famous for their wit as for the elegance
of their toilets and their personal charms, pre-
eminent among whom was the lovely Empress
herself, a vision of beauty and grace, always with
a pleasant word, or a sweet smile, or a bow of
recognition for every one — is it wonderful that
Paris, in those days, seemed most attractive to
Americans ?

It used often to be said, “ Paris is the heaven of
Americans ” ; and we were even encouraged by the
late Mr. Tom Appleton, of Boston, to be virtuous and
pious by the assurance “ that all good Americans when
they die go to Paris.” And should this assurance
be regarded by a few incorrigible sceptics as the
language of transcendent metaphor, certainly no
foreign visitors to the splendid capital of France
were better able than we Americans to understand
how a Frenchman, how Sainte-Beuve could say,
vol. i. 129 k

The Second Fre?ich Empire

“ O Paris ! c est chez toi qu'il est doux de vivre, c est
chez toi que je veux viourir .”

Never at any time were the Governments of
Europe so splendidly represented at the French
Court. The ambassadors, the ministers, and the
attaches of the Embassies and Legations were not
only diplomatists of great ability, but were men of
the world ; and their wives were generally equally
remarkable for their intelligence and brilliant social
accomplishments. Men and women like Lord and
Lady Cowley, Count Htibner, the Prince and Princess
de Metternich, M. de Goltz, Baron Byens, Count
Andrassy, MM. de Stiickelburg and Kisseleff, the
Count and Countess Hatzfeld, Signor Nigra, and
scores of others of equal rank and distinction, could
not fail by their presence to add lustre to a court
already remarkable for its elegance and urbanity.

It was my good fortune to have professional
relations with the families of nearly all the diplomats
who at different times, from 1852 to 1870, were
accredited to the Imperial Government ; and I am
pleased now to remember a considerable number
of those whose acquaintance I first made in this
way, not so much because they were men and women
conspicuous in the social life and the political history
of the time, as because I have always felt that I could
count them among the number of my warmest and
truest friends. I think I may say this without indis-
cretion. At least I hope it may be accepted as
evidence that I am not speaking without knowledge
of the time of which I am writing.

It is well known that my countrymen, during the

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The Imperial Court

last few years of the Second Empire, were in the
enjoyment of such privileges at Court as to be regarded
with no little envy by the members of all the foreign
colonies in Paris. At the splendid receptions given in
the winter, in the great salons of Apollo and the First
Consul, where the whole world was brilliantly repre-
sented, few of the foreign ministers or ambassadors
ventured to bring with them more than three or four
of their compatriots. But our Minister was generally
attended by a full squadron of his fair countrywomen,
the delighted witnesses of pageants of which they
themselves were one of the chief ornaments. Could
it be expected that one should not sometimes hear it
said : “ Ah, those American Democrats ! How they
do love kings and princes, the pomps and ceremonies
of courts ! ” And they did love to see them then,
and still do, in these days of the triumphant Democracy
— not at home, but abroad, where they leave it to
their Minister or Ambassador, dressed like an under-
taker, to represent the Jeffersonian simplicity of the
great American Republic.

Nor can some of us ever forget the gala days and
Venetian nights at Saint Cloud, at Fontainebleau, and
Compiegne ; nor those brilliant scenes on the ice, in
the Bois de Boulogne, where all Paris assembled to
enjoy the skating, gay and happy in the keen air
resonant with laughter, our countrywomen winning
the admiration of every one for grace of movement,
and elegance of dress, and sureness of foot, leaving
it to others to prvoide the gancheries and the falls ;
nor how the Emperor and the Empress joined with
the rest in the exhilarating sport, and enjoyed the

Hi

The Second French Empire

fun of it all with the zest and enthusiasm of
youth.

Large as was the number of Americans almost
always present at the concerts and balls given at the
Tuileries, who received through the United States
Legation their invitations for these as well as for
other great official functions, reviews, and festivals,
the Emperor — thinking that it might be particularly
agreeable to Americans to witness these displays,
coming as they did from a country where such spec-
tacles were seldom, if ever, seen — often asked me to
furnish the names and addresses of any of my country
people who, being in Paris, I thought might like to
receive invitations. And many of them would never
have seen some of the most brilliant assemblies and
interesting ceremonies that took place during a very
remarkable period in French history — a period of un-
paralleled magnificence — had they not been favoured
in this way.

Perhaps the most notable of these pageants — those
which appealed most strongly to the popular imagina-
tion— were the entries into Paris made by the army
on its return from the Crimea in 1855, and by the
“ Army of Italy ” in 1859. They were triumphs “such
as were formerly accorded by the Roman Senate to
its victorious legions” ; and when the Imperial eagles
“which had conquered for France the rank that was
her due,” and the captured standards and cannon, and
the tattered colours, and the bronzed and war-worn
heroes passed in review on the Place Vendome, before
the Emperor on horseback, surrounded by a brilliant
staff drawn up at the foot of the column made of

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7 'he Imperial Court

the guns captured at Austerlitz, the scene was most
impressive.

I remember, as if it were yesterday, the 14th of
August, 1859; the extraordinary display, on this
occasion, of flags and banners, and decorative devices
and inscriptions, in the Rue de la Paix and the
principal boulevards ; the triumphal arches ; the im-
mense ornamental columns surmounted by colossal
Victories holding in their outstretched hands golden
wreaths or crowns of laurel ; the rich draperies spread
from balcony to balcony across the fa9ades of the build-
ings that front upon the Place Vendome ; the great
tribunes to the right and the left, rising tier upon tier, and
filled with thousands of people ; and the gallery built
over the entrance of the Ministry of Justice, where,
under a magnificent canopy of crimson velvet, studded
with golden bees and fringed with gold, the Empress
sat, surrounded by the ladies of her Court, while all
the neighbouring windows and balconies were occupied
by the great dignitaries of the Empire in their showy
uniforms or robes of office, and by ladies in elegant
costumes — the very roofs of the houses being covered
with spectators. As regiment after regiment passed
along the line of march, flowers were thrown from
every window and cries of “ Vive l' Empereur ! ” arose
on every side. Suddenly, as a great body of cavalry
debouched from the Rue de la Paix on to the Place, a
baby — the little Prince Imperial, now three years old
— dressed in the blue-and-red uniform of the Grenadiers
de la Garde , was lifted up on to the pommel of the
saddle in front of the Emperor. The scene that im-
mediately followed is indescribable. The waving of

i33

The Second French Empire

handkerchiefs, the dipping of colours, the flashing of
sabres, the storm of vivas that rang out from the
officers, the soldiers, the tribunes, the whole vast
assembly, to acclaim the little prince on his first appear-
ance in public, appeared to be without end. This union
of the future of the nation with the triumph of the army
of Solferino and Magenta, at the foot of the monu-
ment that commemorated the victories of the founder
of the dynasty, seemed most auspicious and touched
the hearts of the people. They had been brought in
contact with the forces that govern the world, and the
contagion of the human feeling set in motion was so
strong, so irresistible, that even the most irreconcilable
enemies of the Government were carried away by it,
and, joining in the demonstration, threw flowers at the
feet of the Emperor and his son, and cried out with
all their might : “ Vive I'A rmde ! Vive la France ! ”

Few of those who were present on either of these
occasions will ever forget the immense enthusiasm
with which the spectacle revived again the glories of
the “Grand Army” and the memory of Napoleon.

Say what some Frenchmen may now, there were
never prouder days in the history of France than
these.

In June, 1869, a banquet was given by the
American colony to General John A. Dix, who was
about to leave Paris, having just retired from his
post as our Minister to the Imperial Court, after
he had served his country faithfully, and had won
the esteem, the admiration, and the love, I may say,
of all who were fortunate enough to have made his
acquaintance. Nearly four hundred Americans were

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The bnperial Court

assembled together on this occasion, which was the
most brilliant of its kind in the history of our colony.
A soldier by training, General Dix was widely
acquainted with the world, deliberate in his judg-
ments, not inclined to exaggeration, and, withal,
possessed a delicate and highly cultivated sense of
the true and the beautiful. His reply to the toast
offered in his honour was remarkable in many
respects ; but among the words then spoken by
him, none perhaps are better worth remembering
and repeating than these :

“The advantages enjoyed in Paris by the American
colony, which has become so populous as almost to
constitute a distinctive feature in the physiognomy of
the city, can be by none better appreciated than by
ourselves. We are living without personal taxation
or exactions of any sort in this most magnificent of
modern capitals, full of objects of interest, abounding
in all that can gratify the taste, as well as in sources
of solid information ; and these treasures of art and
of knowledge are freely opened to our inspection and
use. Nor is this all. We are invited to participate
most liberally — far more liberally than at any other
Court in Europe — in the hospitalities of the palace.
I have myself, during the two years and a half of my
service here, presented to their Imperial Majesties
more than three hundred of our fellow-citizens of
both sexes ; and a much larger number presented in
former years have during the same period shared
the same courtesies.

“ In liberal views, and in that comprehensive fore-
cast which shapes the policy of the present to meet

i35

The Second French Empire

the exigencies of the future, the Emperor seems to
me to be decidedly in advance of his ministers, and
even of the popular body chosen by universal suffrage
to aid him in his legislative labours. Of her who is
the sharer of his honours and the companion of his
toils, who in the hospital, at the altar, or on the
throne, is alike exemplary in the discharge of her
varied duties, whether incident to her position or
voluntarily taken upon herself, it is difficult for me
to speak without rising above the common language
of eulogium. As in the history of the ruder sex great
luminaries have from time to time risen high above
the horizon, to break and at the same time to
illustrate the monotony of the general movement, so,
in the annals of hers, brilliant lights have at intervals
shone forth and shed their lustre upon the stately
march of regal pomp and power. Such was one of
her royal predecessors ; of wrhom Edmund Burke
said, ‘ There never lighted on this orb, which she
scarcely seemed to touch, a more delightful vision.
Such was that radiant Queen of Bohemia whose
memory history has embalmed, and to whom Sir
Henry Wotton, in a moment of poetic exaltation,
compared the beauties of the skies. And such is
she of whom I am speaking. When I have seen
her taking part in that most imposing, as I think, of
all Imperial pageants — the opening of the Legislative
Chamber, standing amid the assembled magistracy of
Paris and of France, surrounded by the representa-
tives of the talent, the genius, the learning, the
literature, and the piety of this great Empire ; or
amid the resplendent scenes of the palace, moving

136

The Imperial Court

about with a gracefulness all her own, and with a
simplicity of manner which has a double charm when
allied to exalted rank and station, I confess I have
more than once whispered to myself, and I believe
not always inaudibly, that beautiful verse of the
graceful and courtly Claudian, the last of the Roman
poets :

‘ Divino semita gressu claruit,'

or, rendered into our plain English and stripped of
its poetic hyperbole, ‘ The very path she treads is
radiant with her unrivalled step.’ ”

The special favours accorded to the members of
our colony by the Imperial Court were duly
appreciated. They gave pleasure to us, but, in
turn, by benefiting the furnishers of all the beautiful
things loved and admired by Americans, they gave
pleasure to the French also.

The proportion of resident members in the American
colony was much greater than at present, and our
colony then formed a far more considerable and
influential section of Parisian society than it does
to-day. And it was all the while, up to the fall
of the Empire, constantly growing by the increase
of its permanent elements.

During this period, the cost of living in Paris
was relatively small. Rents were low, the domestic
service nearly perfect, and luxuries of every sort
cheap. The educational facilities were ample, not
expensive, and of a high order. Paris was not only
a delightful place for the rich to live in, but large
numbers of Americans with moderate incomes found

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7 he Second French Empire

that they could reside here free from a multitude
of cares, in comparative elegance, members of a
cultivated and refined society, and at the same time
could secure for their children the advantages and
accomplishments of a superior education.

New York, Philadelphia, and Boston were always
well represented in our colony. But the Southern
contingent was perhaps the strongest. It repre-
sented a large constituency and a class of Americans
accustomed to spend money freely. If the war of
1861-65 reduced the incomes of these Southern
colonists, it greatly increased their number. More-
over, up to 1861 the American Minister to France
was generally a Southern man — the series ending
with William C. Rives, John Y. Mason, and Charles
J. Falkner, all of Virginia.

Owing to the great increase in the population and
wealth of the United States, the number of Americans
who visit Paris every year is larger now than it was
twenty-five or thirty years ago. But few of these
visitors remain here long, and those who do have
generally preferred to pitch their tents among the
nomads of the Qiiartier Latin , rather than live in
the more conventional and fashionable Quartier de
l ’ Ftoile .

How things have changed with us here in Paris
since 1870! Who are the Americans that are in-
vited to the official receptions to-day ? The mem-
bers of our Embassy and a few persons on special
missions. The relations between Americans and the
representatives of the French Government are now
wholly official and perfunctory. Left, since the dis-

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The Imperial Court

appearance of the Imperial Court, without a recog-
nised head and arbiter of forms and ceremonies,
and procedures and precedents, Parisian society has
become broken up into circles and cliques, and small
bodies which move about subject to no law, and
whose beine and coherence would seem to be deter-
mined solely by mutual repulsion.

The tone of Parisian society in those days was
quite unlike that which has since obtained. It was
cosmopolitan and not provincial, and was a reflex of
the political prestige of the Empire both at home and
abroad. It was a society full of movement and
originality, of unconventionality, and gaiety, and
charm. The admirable taste, the artistic sentiment
and distinction shown by those who best represented
it, especially in everything relating to manners, and
dress, and the outward appearance of the person,
found expression in a word which was then frequently
used to symbolise the sum of all these mundane
elegancies. The women of those days were not
more beautiful than are the women of the Republic ;
but the women of the Empire had chic. Every one
then who was somebody in society — man or woman —
was chic , if not by nature or by grace, by example and
habit. As this word is now obsolescent — at least, it
would seem as if the qualities it was intended to
express were gradually dying out. Nor is it surpris-
ing that it should be so — that with the change in the
Government there should have been a social revulsion
as well, and that Parisian society under the Republic
should imitate the stiff and meagre conventionalities
and formalisms of the bourgeois monarchy ; should

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The Second French Empire

sneer at “the meretricious splendour of the Imperial
Court ” ; should scoff at the cocodettes and femmes
exotiques of the Second Empire, and cultivate a
narrow, repellent, and exclusive Nationalism ; or,
moved by the Democratic spirit that is now, at the
end of the century, sweeping over the world, should
be rather proud than otherwise of the cotton umbrellas
of Louis Philippe, and the frugalities of M. Grdvy.

The generous hospitality extended to foreign
visitors by the Imperial Court was often — sub rosd
— the subject of envious or cynical comment on the
part of those who witnessed it. But the journalists
and chroniclers of the day were polite to strangers.
Since the fall of the Empire, however, its “exoticism,”
as it is called, has become a sort of Turk’s head with
a certain class of writers. “The distinguished but
slightly bourgeois element that constituted society
under Louis Philippe ” — to use the language of one
of these writers — was shocked by the introduction
into France of outdoor sports such as tennis, and
archery, and hunting ; and was made inconsolable on
learning that “ l' argot britannique des jockeys" had
forced its way into salons once famous as the ojjicines
of the degermanised Hegelianism of M. Cousin.
These political moralists and incorruptible patriots
pretend to have discovered in a fondness for
foreigners and foreign ideas the origin of the fri-
volity, the unbridled license and corruption which,
they allege, prevailed during nearly the whole of the
Imperial regime; and that one of the contributory
causes of the present general decadence of French
society — which they acknowledge — was the favour

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The Imperial Court

accorded by the Tout Paris of that time to princes and
nabobs from Asia and Africa, and to successful
American speculators, and traders in pork and sew-
ing machines. I have no doubt that there are persons
who sincerely believe these things, but they are cer-
tainly not those who have most vehemently and
persistently asserted them — something much easier
to do than to make evident to the world the pre-
eminent excellence and unsullied purity of political
and social life in the French capital during the
Monarchy and under the third Republic. Indeed,
much of this silly criticism is only a rehash of the
gossip of “ salons ” that under the Empire were
ddmodds and had become merely the convenient
rendez-vous of literary Bohemians, emancipated
women and politicians out of business — in short of
the uncompromising Opposition. The simple truth
is that if foreigners were treated with especial hos-
pitality and courtesy at the Imperial Court, it was
only a proper and polite recognition of the homage
the whole world was then pleased to pay to France,
and to the sovereigns who represented with such
distinction a nation which under their rule had gained
the ascendency it lost at the Restoration, and had
become once more, and beyond dispute, the dominant
Power on the European Continent.

There was a time when all roads led to Rome.
But when Rome ceased to be the Capital of the world
and became the capital of Italy and the See of a
Bishop, roads were built to meet the requirements of
the multitude of foreigners who preferred to travel in
other directions.

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The Second French Empire

If there is no longer an American society here, if
London has captured it — in part, at least — it is because
Paris is now socially dead.

The lights that once shone here have been extin-
guished, the guests — the entertained as well as the
entertainers — have gone. The very palace even,
where they were wont to assemble, has been destroyed
by the torch of the incendiary. The chef d' oeuvre of
Philibert Delorme and Jean Bullant, with its majestic
pavilions, its noble galleries and salons, with all their
rich embellishments, the work of three hundred years
of the genius and aesthetic sentiment of France ; the
sculptures and paintings, the furniture and the tapes-
tries, the polished bronze and marble, the splendid stair-
case— on the steps of which at either side the cent gardes
stood like statues on State occasions ; and the magnifi-
cent Salle des Mardchaux — where the great ceremonies
were held — resplendent with mural decorations and
velvet draperies, and traceries of gold, and superb
chandeliers hanging from the ceiling like vast masses
of jewels, and adorned with the portraits and busts of
dead heroes ; and the brilliant uniforms and elegant
toilettes, and the music, and the flowers, and the spec-
tacular effects of the moving and constantly changing
scene, which opened to the admiring eyes of the throng
a new world of beauty and of grace — all these glories
and these pageants have vanished, and the world
now knows them, and will know them, no more
for ever — except as history or legend. Sunt lacrimce
rerum.

It has been the habit of Americans to say of

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The JVar of the Rebellion

Napoleon III. that he was not friendly to our Govern-
ment during the War of the Rebellion.

At the beginning of this war, it is quite certain that
nearly everybody in Europe felt a sympathy for the
South, for it seemed to be the weaker party. Sharing
this general feeling, the Emperor may have had, more-
over, a passing and chivalric sentiment of admiration
for the stubborn, plucky, and gallant resistance which
the seceding States offered to the Federal Govern-
ment. It should be remembered also that a very con-
siderable part of the territory of the Confederacy once
belonged to France, and that the largest and richest
city of the South — New Orleans — to great numbers of
Frenchmen has always seemed to be a city of their
own people.

Then, again, commercial interests were deeply con-
cerned, and became more and more so as the war went
on. National industries were paralysed and markets
lost. Thousands of working men wTere idle.1 And

1 A bill that opened a credit of five millions of francs in behalf of
the working men in the manufacturing districts especially affected by
the American war was passed in January, 1863, by the unanimous
consent of the French Assembly. But as early as March, 1862, the
Emperor had sent as a personal gift to the operatives — principally in
cotton mills — now out of work, the sum of 250,000 francs. “ In
some departments the sufferings of these men were very severe. In
that of the Seine I?iferieure the number of labourers who were thrown
out of work was estimated at one hundred and thirty thousand.
Private charity co-operated with the Legislature, and on January 26th
two million francs had already been absorbed. The resignation and
patriotic attitude of the working men were generally commended ;
and on May 4th the Legislature voted a new credit of one million
two hundred thousand francs in their behalf.” — American Annual
Cyclopedia.

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The Second French Empire

after great battles had been fought that decided nothing,
and apparently tended to no definite conclusion, the
people, more particularly in England and France,
began to grow tired of hearing of the continued
slaughter in what, to them, seemed to be an inter-
minable war.

The French, however, were less interested than the
English in the final issue of the war; and the French
Press was much more moderate in its tone than the
English Press, from which, however, it obtained most
of its information and misinformation with respect to
American affairs. Few Americans living, in the pre-
sent era of good feeling, have any adequate idea of the
intense hostility exhibited towards the Government of
President Lincoln in English official circles and in the
British Parliament, not by the Tory opposition alone,
but by the leading representatives of the Liberal
Government of the day — Gladstone, Roebuck, Lord
Brougham — Blanche, Tray, and Sweetheart — it was
the same cry: “Jefferson Davis has created a new
nation and the Yankee war must be stopped.” 1

The Southern Confederacy was ably represented in
Europe; its agents were numerous, intelligent, and
active. But public sympathy was of little practical
service to their cause ; what they wanted to secure was
the effective aid of the European governments — recog-
nition, at least. In France, especially, their work was
principally within official circles — although unofficial.
Mr. Slidell, the Commissioner of the Confederate
Government, unrecognised at the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, sought to confer with other members of the

1 See Appendix IV.

144

T he IV ar of the Rebellion

Imperial Government and directly with the Emperor
himself. In this and in all his doings he had the active
co-operation of large numbers of Southern men and
women who resided in Paris during the war ; and the
Southern ladies, who formed a brilliant and influential
society, vied with each other in their endeavours to
enlist in support of their cause every one connected
wflth the Imperial Court. It was most natural, since
they were pleading for their homes and their families.
Many of them had fathers, brothers, husbands, and
sons fighting for what they regarded as birthrights.
Their zeal, their strenuous efforts, and continued
labour were not in vain, for the Court was almost
entirely gained over to their side. The consequence
was that the Emperor was constantly surrounded by
those who sympathised with the South.

I regret to say that there was another reason for
this sympathy : there were men at Court holding high
official positions who acted entirely from motives of
self-interest. There were, to my knowledge, offers
of large quantities of cotton made to some of these
persons if by their influence they could induce the
Emperor to recognise the Southern Confederacy.
The Emperor was, at times, absolutely beset by these
people. According to them, the South was sure of
success, and the inability of the Federal Government
to carry on the war much longer was a constant theme
with them. The Emperor listened to these statements
in his usual quiet way, occasionally smiling, but
whether because he was pleased or incredulous was
never known ; for he was never betrayed into con-
senting to an act or giving an opinion inconsistent
vol. i. 145 l

The Second French Empire

with an attitude of complete neutrality, although he
often expressed his desire, in the interest of humanity,
to see the war brought to a close, in order that the
suffering and loss of life necessarily caused by this
cruel conflict might cease.

But when the real causes that led to the secession
of the Southern States from the Federal Union began
to be apparent, and it became clear that the leaders
in this movement had but one end in view, namely,
the creation of a powerful Republic for the perpe-
tuation of human slavery, it grew more and more
difficult for the Emperor, as for many others who
could not fail to watch this great struggle with intense
interest, to reconcile their very natural sympathies for
the weak with a desire for the triumph of right and
justice, and the advancement of civilisation and happi-
ness among men. However brilliantly the commercial
benefits to Europe of a great cotton-growing, free-
trade American Republic might be set forth, the
condition on which alone they could be obtained — a
sanction for the servitude of the black race — was
intolerable to the European conscience. No man
understood this better than Napoleon III. But the
opinion of others was unnecessary in this case, for
the thought of servitude was always repugnant to
him.

While a prisoner at Ham he wrote : “To day the
object of enlightened governments should be to devote
their efforts to hasten the period when men may say,

‘ The triumph of democratic ideas has caused the
extinction of pauperism ; the triumph of the French
Revolution has put an end to serfdom ; the triumph

146

The JVar of the Rebellion

of Christianity has destroyed slavery.’ ” And when
finally he became Emperor, he did not forget his
words ; for the single object of his own life, constantly
in mind to its very end, was to see these ideas realised
in history.

I had personally the greatest respect for the
American Minister at the French Court, Mr. William
M. Dayton. He was an able lawyer, a most honour-
able and upright man, beloved by all who knew him,
and universally esteemed. But Mr. Dayton was an
exceeding modest man, with a fine sense of the dignity
of his office, and certainly would not have considered it
proper that he should attempt to represent the United
States before the French Government in any other
than a strictly diplomatic way.

As a simple American citizen, I was free from all
official responsibility. I knew that I could be of great
service to my country, and whenever I felt that I
ought to act or speak, I was restrained by no fear of
being too intrusive or too strenuous. At the begin-
ning of the war the Federal Government was unable to
arm the soldiers who were called out by the President,
and efforts were made to obtain military supplies in
Europe. And I am happy to say that in my capacity
of private citizen I was able to obtain from a French
company a large quantity of firearms which were sent
with other military stores to the United States ; and —
what is of more importance in this connection — that
the transaction was effected with the knowledge and
permission of Napoleon III.

With the facilities I had of communicating directly

i47

The Seco?td French F?npire

with the Emperor and coming in contact, as I did
every day, with the principal personages about the
Court, and the most distinguished men in the Legis-
lature, the Army, the Church, and in every walk of
life, and with the members of their families, I had
very frequent and unusual opportunities of defending
the cause of our National Government. Moreover,
my relations with my compatriots, my presumed
acquaintance with American affairs, the deep interest
I took in the preservation of our Union, and the con-
fidence with which I predicted it, caused me and my
opinions to be much sought after ; and particularly as
I, excepting perhaps Prince Napoleon, was the only
person with pronounced Northern views having fre-
quent access to the Emperor. I firmly believed in
the eventual success of the Federal Government, and
being almost alone in that belief, I was compelled to
keep myself well informed with respect to everything
that might strengthen it and furnish me with facts
and arguments to support and add weight to my
assertions. I was constantly on the look-out for the
latest news, and took special pains to meet and con-
verse with those persons coming from America who
could give me information, so that I might communi-
cate it to the Emperor, who was never unwilling to
hear “the other side.” It was, therefore, necessary
to be always at work to meet the statements, and
thwart the designs, and destroy the hopes of the
agents, accredited or unaccredited, of the Confederate
Government, for “ those who hear only one bell hear
only one sound.” I accordingly, as long as this
terrible war lasted, continued to do what in ordinary

148

7 "he JVar of the Rebellion

circumstances is either not done, or is effected through
diplomatic channels.

I always let Mr. Dayton know that I was keeping
the Emperor informed of what was passing ; and he
rendered me all the assistance he could, never feeling
that I was in any way interfering with his duties or
prerogatives. A more patriotic, generous, and unsel-
fish man could not be found.

I particularly endeavoured to convey to the mind of
the Emperor some idea of the fervent patriotism, the
indomitable courage, the inexhaustible patience, and
the undying devotion to their cause, of the men of the
North. And I never lost an occasion to show him
the progress we had made, or to call his attention to
what our troops were doing. I supplied him con-
tinually with documents and newspapers containing
important information relating to the war, and with
maps that would aid him in following the movements
of the different armies in the field. These were placed
in a room at the Tuileries near his private cabinet.
Here he frequently went to consult the maps, and to
mark, with pins to which little flags were attached, the
positions of the opposing armies. At times he was
greatly interested in watching the movements of these
armies, and made them even the subjects of critical
technical study.

Thus he was able to estimate the value of the asser-
tions of those who surrounded him, and sought to
bring him to the point of acknowledging the Southern
Confederacy ; and so it happened that when they felt
most sure of accomplishing their purpose they found
him to be immovable. His reticence puzzled them.

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The Second French Empire

And yet, sometimes, he surprised them by statements
showing that he knew more about the war, and its
probable duration, and the final result, than they had
imagined possible. On one occasion, that came within
my knowledge, to a person who had reported to him
a great Confederate victory, he replied quietly, but
with a most crushing- effect :

o

“The facts are quite contrary to what you have
been telling me.”

One afternoon, in the summer of 1862, while driving
in the Bois de Boulogne, I met Mr. N. M. Beckwith,
who informed me that on the following evening Mr.
Roebuck was to make a statement in the House of
Commons relating a conversation he had had with the
Emperor at Fontainebleau a few days before ; his
purpose being to show that in this interview the
Emperor had given him assurances that he would not
be indisposed to intervene in behalf of the Southern
Confederacy under certain conditions agreed upon
with the English Government.

I thought over the matter during the night, and
came to the conclusion that if the Emperor had had
a conversation with Mr. Roebuck it had not been of
such a nature as to authorise him to announce, or even
to attempt to foreshadow, in Parliament the Imperial
policy with respect to this subject. I knew Mr.
Roebuck was interested in giving the conversation
such a colour that it would seem, to those who heard
him, that the Emperor had decided to join with
England in this much-desired alliance in behalf of the
Confederacy. I had, however, personal knowledge

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The IV cir of the Rebellion

of the views entertained by the Emperor, and was
confident that he had no such intention, but was
determined not to recognise the Confederacy, to
observe the strictest neutrality, and to intervene only
in case of our manifest inability to bring the war to an
end ourselves. To such a strait he did not believe
we would come. And it was for this reason that he
had refused all the entreaties, not only of English
statesmen, but of those about him, of some of his own
ministers, and more especially of M. de Persigny, who
never lost an occasion to present the case of the Con-
federates as favourably as possible, and to insist on
the utter inability of our Government to put down the
rebellion. Nevertheless Mr. Beckwith’s statement was
so precise that I resolved to see the Emperor and
ascertain what possible foundation there might be
for it.

With this purpose in view I started early the next
morning for Fontainebleau. I saw the Emperor as
soon as he had left his bed, and communicated to him
what I had learned about Mr. Roebuck’s intention.
I asked him if anything in the conversation he had
had with that very active Member of Parliament could
be construed into a promise to recognise the Southern
Confederacy on certain conditions ; and if Mr. Roebuck
had his permission to make an announcement to that
effect in the House of Commons. His Majesty most
unhesitatingly denied having given him any assurances
or promises whatsoever. The conversation, he said,
had been general, and he should be greatly astonished
if Roebuck were so to report the conversation that it
could be considered as containing a promise or pledge

Hi

The Second French Empire

on his part to act in relation to the matter conjointly
with the British Government. So anxious was he to
avoid any such interpretation of the conversation, that
he decided, at my suggestion, to have a telegram sent
to a Member of Parliament, directing him, in case
Mr. Roebuck should make such a statement, to deny
immediately that there had been any pledge or promise,
or that he was in any way bound by the remarks of
that gentleman.

This was done, and when Mr. Roebuck, in the
course of a speech, referred to his having seen the
Emperor of the French at Fontainebleau a few days
before, and began to report the conversation which
had taken place on that occasion, he was immediately
informed that a telegram had been received from the
Emperor stating that the conversation had been
entirely private.

Besides the influences the Emperor was continually
under, coming from his entourage and from interested
private individuals, much pressure was brought to bear
on him from several foreign governments — especially
the English — to induce him to recognise the Southern
Confederacy. I am in possession of positive informa-
tion upon this subject. I have seen and read, and
have had in my hands, papers sent to the Emperor,
and coming from the English Foreign Office, in which
it was proposed that France should join with England
in recognising the Confederacy. This is at variance
with the usually received impression. It is generally
believed that France and her Government, and the
Emperor personally, were anxious to recognise the
Confederacy ; and to that end solicited the co-opera-

152

The JV ar of the Rebellion

tion of England. I insist that this was not the case,
and that the contrary was true. The Emperor never
came at any time to the point of believing, as Palmer-
ston did, that it was best to recognise the Southern
Confederacy. After some of the failures and defeats
of our army, it is not to be wondered at if, in common
with nearly every one in Europe, he had some doubts
of the final result.

Those were dark days that followed the failure of
the Peninsular campaign and the battles of the second
Bull Run. Then it was that Gladstone made his
notorious speech at Newcastle, and that even the
friends of the Union in Europe began to grow faint-
hearted. It was of this time that Lowell spoke when
he said of Charles Francis Adams, “ None of our
generals in the field, not Grant himself, did us better
or more trying service than he in his forlorn outpost
in London.” Then it was, also, that the Emperor
expressed the opinion that perhaps the Federal
Government might be induced to accept the friendly
mediation of England, Russia, and France, and con-
sent to an armistice ; and if so, that the offer of such
mediatory services was desirable. But this opinion
was suggested by humane rather than by political
considerations.1 At the outbreak of the War of the

1 The Emperor, in his address to the Legislative Body, January
12, 1863, said :

“The situation of the Empire would be flourishing had not the
American war come to dry up one of the most fruitful sources of
our industry. The unnatural stagnation of business has caused in
several places a state of destitution which is worthy of our solicitude,
and an appropriation will be asked of you in behalf of those who
are supporting with resignation the effect of a calamity which it is

153

The Second French Fmpire

Rebellion the relations of the French Government
with the Federal Government were very friendly.
Our War Department obtained military supplies of
various kinds in France without difficulty ; and the
views expressed by the Emperor in July, 1 86 1 , with
respect to the blockade of the Southern coast, were
entirely satisfactory to Mr. Lincoln. It was even
supposed, so marked was the absence in France of
the hostile feeling which prevailed in England, that,
under certain circumstances, the Imperial Govern-
ment might give direct assistance to the cause of the
Union. Or was the suororestion of such assistance

o o

actually made to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward by
Prince Napoleon when he visited Washington in the
summer of 1 86 1 ? Whatever answer may be given
to this question, it is quite certain that Mr. Seward
entertained the idea of the friendly neutrality of
France at the time of the Trent affair ; and, if it was
among the reasons that led him at first to decline to
surrender the Confederate Commissioners, it was also
because of the very amicable relations between the
French Legation and the State Department that Mr.
Seward was disposed to listen to the representations
on this subject made to him by M. Mercier at the
request of M. Thouvenel, acting at the suggestion of
the Emperor. Indeed, it was because the friendly

not in our power to bring to an end. Nevertheless, I have attempted
to send across the Atlantic counsels inspired by the sincerest
sympathy, but the great maritime Powers not having as yet thought
it proper to join with me, I have postponed until a more propitious
time the offer of mediation, the object of which was to arrest the
effusion of blood and prevent the exhaustion of a country whose
future cannot be indifferent to us.”

154

The IV ar of the Rebellio?i

advice given on this occasion had proved so successful
— had apparently prevented a disastrous war between
the United States and Great Britain — that the
Emperor was finally induced to sound the English
and Russian Governments with respect to the
expediency of offering to the belligerents, conjointly
with the Imperial Government, their friendly services
as mediators.

But while the relations between France and the
United States w'ere constantly maintained upon an
amicable footing: until near the end of the secession
war, the relations between the English and the French
Governments during the same period, if not strained
— in the diplomatic sense of that word — were certainly
very far from being cordial. Not only was the
hostility then shown by Lords Palmerston and Russell
to the policy of the Empire, with respect to nearly
every question concerning European politics, a cause
of almost constant irritation, but the abusive language
employed by the Press and by individuals, who were
presumed to represent the English Government, when
speaking of Napoleon III. — language which often
exceeded in bitterness that with which Mr. Lincoln
was bespattered by the same Press and the same
persons — was keenly felt by the Emperor, and was
frequently the subject of his indignant remonstrance.
The Emperor, when his co-operation was desired by
the English Government contemplating an interven-
tion in American affairs, was in no humour to listen
to the solicitations of the men who were responsible
for that Government and were, at the same time, his
personal enemies and the friends of his political

155

The Second French Empire

enemies. The Emperor never wholly gave up the
thought that ultimately the North would succeed. In
his opinion it would be a misfortune for the country to
be divided. In fact, a division of the United States
into separate and independent governments would
have been in conflict with the principle of “great
agglomerations,” of “nationalities and natural bound
aries,” which was the foundation of his theory of
international relations. It would not only have been
contrary to his general political policy, but it would
have been unnatural for him to wish to see our Union
dismembered. No. That was never his wish.

I could furnish, were it necessary to do so, innumer-
able proofs to sustain these affirmations. I will here
state what took place one day in the summer of 1864,
as also its consequence — an episode that brings to my
mind delightful reminiscences of men now and for
evermore famous in our national history.

I was sent for by the Emperor to come to Com-
piegne. This was just after the great battles of the
Wilderness and the failure of Grant’s first movement
against Richmond ; when Early’s army was in sight
of the Capitol, and news of the capture of Washington
was expected at any moment. His Majesty informed
me that he had received a communication from
London, in which he was seriously advised, urged,
and even begged to recognise the Southern Con-
federacy.

The substance of the note was to this effect : “ The
Washington Government have no chance of getting
through with this cruel war. It is now time it should

156

1

The IV ar of the Rebellion

cease, and a stop should be put to it.” And the
Emperor was told that if he would take the initiative
in the work of ending this war public opinion in
England would force the Government to co-operate
with him.

“You see how hard I am pressed,” the Emperor
said, “yet I have not yielded, because of the as-
surances I have received — and from you among
others — that it is only a question of time when the
war must end in the complete success of the Federal
Government.”

I told him the war was certainly approaching an
end ; that the resources of the South were almost
exhausted ; that, with nearly a million seasoned sol-
diers in the field, the military power of the North was
irresistible. So I pleaded for hands off ; and pleading
with the Emperor not to yield to the pressure of
private interest, nor to be influenced by communica-
tions of the kind he had just received, but to await
events, I became warm, and was quite carried away
by my subject. I told him that the recognition of the
Confederacy would only cause much more blood to
flow ; that foreign intervention would be useless ; that
the people of the North would never permit any inter-
vention from abroad in their affairs — no matter what
sacrifices it might be necessary to make, either of
money or of men.

Just at this moment a door, which was hidden with
upholstery so as to be invisible, opened as if by
magic, and the Prince Imperial, then a beautiful boy
of eight years, appeared before us in a most charming
and surprised manner — as he did not know that any

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The Second French Empire

one was in the private room of his father. He had
thought him alone, and began to apologise for his
intrusion.

But it furnished the occasion and gave me the
courage to say, “ Sire, you cannot think of recog-
nising the Government of Jefferson Davis, for the
dismemberment of our great Union founded by
Washington would be a crime. No! Were it done
by your aid the States of the North would never
forget you, nor cease to curse your name. For this
boy’s sake, you cannot act. He is to succeed you,
and the people of my country would visit it upon his
head if you had helped to destroy our great and happy
Union.

“You cannot think of the miseries it would entail.
You cannot think of doing this. Keep our friendship
— our ancient friendship that was sealed with the
blood of France — for your son.” Continuing, I said,
“ I will go to the United States. I will leave by the
very first steamer, and learn for myself what the
situation is — what is the feeling of the people, and
what is the power of the Government. I will go
directly to Washington and see Mr. Lincoln and
Mr. Seward, and I will report to you the exact truth,
whether they believe, and have reason to believe, that
the end of the war is not far off.” And I entreated
his Majesty to suspend all action until I could report
to him what I might learn about the war by personal
observation and inquiry.

The Emperor, who had listened to me without
saying a word, when I had finished speaking said,
“ Well, Evans, go ! I shall be pleased to hear from

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The JVar of the Rebellion

you, and to get your impressions and opinions, and” —
smiling as he spoke — “ I don’t think I shall recognise
the Southern Confederacy until you have had an
opportunity of communicating to me the results of
your visit.”

Accordingly I left Paris, with Mrs. Evans, on the
nth of August, for Liverpool, where, the following
Saturday, we embarked on the China for New York,
which port we reached ten days later — August 23rd.

After a brief visit to my family I proceeded to the
Capital, where I was received by Mr. Seward, Secre-
tary of State. I told him the object of my visit was
to learn the true state of affairs with respect to the
rebellion, and whether there was any prospect of a
speedy termination of the war. I was astonished to
find Mr. Seward rather gloomy and dispirited. He
said things looked bad. I was introduced to other
members of the Cabinet, and found that they also
were feeling very uneasy. I was the more surprised
at this feeling, as the fall of Atlanta had just been
announced.

It wTas not, however, so much the military situation
as the political outlook that was troubling them. A
presidential election was to take place in November.
The Democratic party had pronounced the war to be
a failure, and, with this as the issue before the people,
had nominated General McClellan as their candidate
for the Presidency. Mr. Lincoln was again the can-
didate of the Republican party for that office ; but his
re-election was by no means certain, and his defeat
would have been disastrous to the cause of the Union.

i59

fv

The Second French Rmpire

I was received afterward by President Lincoln,
whom I had met at his home some years before,
having been introduced to him at Springfield, in the
year i860, before he was elected President, but after
his nomination. Remembering my former visit to
him, he greeted me with much affability, and spoke
of that meeting, and of persons both of us knew.
When I told him what I had come to America for
he seemed much pleased, and said I would be given
every opportunity to see for myself, and would be
supplied with all possible information concerning the
situation.

I informed the President of my efforts to con-
vince the Emperor that the North would succeed in
suppressing the Rebellion, and related to him how his
Majesty was pressed on every side to acknowledge
the Southern Confederacy, how I had told him that
such recognition could only lead to complications
which might prove disastrous, and that I had en-
treated him to suspend any action in this direction
until I could lay before him the facts as they appeared
to Americans who were on the ground, and were most
familiar with the conditions of the contest, and most
competent to forecast its result.

I had a long conversation with Mr. Lincoln on this
occasion, but before the interview ended Mr. Seward
joined us, and I was furnished by these eminent men
with information that gave me a very clear insight
into the situation from the official or governmental
point of view. Mr. Lincoln was in much the better
spirits, and the more sanguine, summing up his fore-
cast of coming events in his homely way as follows :

160

The JVar of the Rebellion

“ Well, I guess we shall be able to pull through ; it
may take some time. But we shall succeed, /
think'' with an emphasis on the last words that was
significant.

It was then proposed that I should go to City Point
and see General Grant. It was thought that a visit
to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac, then
engaged in siege operations in front of Petersburg
and Richmond, might supply me with some of the
special facts I was in search of, and prove an object-
lesson of great value to me in the accomplishment of
my mission.

Arrangements were accordingly made for me to go
to City Point on a “ transport,” the only means of
conveyance that could be had. And so, after having
been provided with letters of introduction and the
necessary passes, on the morning of the 4th of
September, accompanied by Mrs. Evans, my niece,
and her husband, I sailed for Hampton Roads. The
great heat compelled us to remain on deck ; the boat
was crowded with troops going to the front, and the
mosquitoes, the noise and the confusion, and the want
of beds, made the night one of the most disagreeable
I ever experienced.

Arriving at Norfolk the next morning I saw for
the first time the ruin and desolation wrought by the
war. The town was full of soldiers and “ contra-
bands,” and nothing was going on but what related
in some way to the war. Finding that I should be
obliged to leave Mrs. Evans and my niece in this
place, I obtained for them, after much searching,

vol. 1. 161 m

i

The Second Fre?ich Empire

lodgings with a private family. The food was coarse
and badly cooked, and my wife and niece occupied a
room in the garret that during the day was intolerably
hot, and where, at night, they were nearly suffocated.
This I learned afterward; for before noon I left Nor-
folk, and, taking a boat at Fortress Monroe, arrived
at General Grant’s headquarters in the evening of the
same day.

The General received me in a simple, off-hand
way ; invited me to dine with him ; and made me
as comfortable as could be expected in time of war
and in camp. I explained the object of my mission,
and he seemed pleased that I had come to see him and
learn for myself how things were going on. I found
the General delightful in conversation. As he was
much occupied during the day, our talks were princi-
pally in the evening — after his coloured boy had made
up a large fire in front of his tent ; for although the
days were hot, the evenings were cool and damp, and
the fire kept off the mosquitoes. Then it was that
the General took his seat in a camp-chair before the
burning logs, with his staff about him, and also his
visitors, of whom there were almost always a number
at headquarters. Throwing his leg over the arm of
his chair, after having lighted a cigar, the General
was ready for a talk.

We discussed not only questions relating to the war,
but all sorts of subjects — political, social, and personal.
I was astonished to find the commander of so large
an army, who had already shown extraordinary talent
and had gained great victories, was one of the most
simple-minded of men. Of what was passing in

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The War of the Rebellion

Europe and in other parts of the world he was
almost utterly ignorant. Concerning the French
Empire, its government, and its economical and
social life, he had not the slightest idea. But he
never seemed tired of hearing about the Emperor
and the Court. The Empress, her beauty, and her
never-failing kindness to Americans, interested him
greatly ; and it delighted him to have me dwell upon
the attractions and pleasures of Paris. On one occa-
sion he remarked : “ When I have got through with
this war that we have on hand, I hope to go abroad
and see for myself all these beautiful things. I shall
want rest ; my only fear is that I cannot afford it,
for I am not rich, and I am afraid I shall be obliged
to wait a long time before I can go over to see you,
and enjoy all these things we have spoken about.”

I replied : “ Why, General, when you have finished
the war, as you seem to be sure you will, to the
satisfaction of your country and the Government
that placed you in command, the people will put you
up for President ; and, if so, I have no doubt you will
be elected.”

Seeming to hesitate for a moment, he said : “ This
I doubt, and shall never consent to. I may be suc-
cessful as a military man, but I know nothing of
politics. I never voted but once in my life, and
! then I made a mistake. I never interested myself in
politics. Once when I was going home, after taking
I a load of wood into town, my friends met me and
insisted that I should vote, as it was election day. I
was persuaded to do so, and threw my vote for Mr.
Buchanan ; and that, as you see, was a mistake.”

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The Second Fre?ich Empire

“ But, General, other men have risen to the Pre-
sidency, having had no more experience in politi-
cal matters than yourself. Each of our wars
has produced a President — Washington, Jackson,
Taylor ”

“ No,” he replied, “ I had rather go abroad and see
something of the Old World.”

He was very positive about the final result of the
war. He was frank and unreserved in giving his
opinions, and freely expressed to me his hopes. He
impressed me with his sincerity, his simplicity, and at
the same time his entire confidence in himself. On
my asking him when he thought the war would be
brought to a close, he said : “Not until we get rid of
some of these political generals. It is these men who
have kept us so long from putting an end to the war.”

During my visit he had long interviews with
General Butler. He criticised the works at Bermuda
Hundred as designed and carried on by General
Butler ; and made no secret of his dissatisfaction with
much that was done by political generals , as he called
them.

One day, when General Butler was dining with us,
General Grant inquired of him what he was doing
over at Bermuda Hundred ; he asked him about the
canal he was cutting, and many other questions con-
cerning what was passing at his headquarters. General
Butler invited him to come over and see for himself.
Accordingly, the next day, General Grant, with
his staff, set out to visit the camps around Richmond,
and he invited me to accompany him. The General
rode a big bay horse, and he offered me for this

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The IV ar of the Rebellion

excursion the black mare that, as he told me, he had
taken from the farm of Jefferson Davis in Mississippi,
after the surrender of Vicksburg. A very excellent
riding horse she was, and the General set much store
by her. I was afterward told that it was a great
favour for him to lend this mare to any one.

We visited Generals Meade, Hancock, Butler, and
others, riding along almost in sight of the city. We
were so near that we could see the Confederate
pickets, some of whom were reading newspapers ; and
occasionally a shot came hurtling over our heads.
The General never seemed to think his life was in
danger. While visiting the works that had been
constructed by order of General Butler, he looked
from behind the earthen defences, and at times ex-
posed himself so much, that his officers called his
attention to the risk he was running. Yet he was
not a foolhardy man.

We dined at the camp or headquarters of General
Hancock, and I was much impressed with the military
bearing of the General.

While I was at City Point, General Grant had a
visit from some old friends of his. Among them was
Mr. Washburne, afterward Minister to Paris. The
General told us that he was having a correspondence
with General Sherman concerning a movement he
was about to make ; and I believe I was one of the
first persons who knew something of the plan of cam-
paign agreed upon.1 This march to the sea, the

1 Dr. Evans is in error here. And yet his statement is interesting.
It goes to show that the idea which finally found its realisation in
the “ march to the sea ” was in the air, so to speak, at the time of

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getting behind the army of Northern Virginia, seemed
to Grant the one thing that was needed to bring
about the end ; and he was right in believing it to be
so. For, as every one knows, Lee’s army was finally
crushed between the columns of Sherman and Grant.

his visit to the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac. It was
about this time that General Grant wrote to Mr. Lincoln and
pointed out the importance of getting behind or “ south of the
enemy.” It was then also that he sent to Atlanta an aide-de-camp,
Lieutenant-Colonel Porter (now General Horace Porter), with a
letter and instructions to confer with General Sherman, and arrange,
if possible, for a combined movement. But, in fact, it was as late as
October 9th before Sherman seems to have seriously thought it
would be possible — as he then wrote — “to move through Georgia
smashing things, to the sea”; or to say, “ I can make this march
and make Georgia howl.” And this opinion was expressed only
after Hood had moved from Sherman’s front, and had occupied or
threatened his line of communications with Chattanooga. Grant,
at this time, while most anxious to get “ behind the army of
Northern Virginia,” had doubts about making Savannah the objec-
tive point of the movement, and particularly about cutting loose
entirely from Atlanta. As late as November 1st, he said in a des-
patch to Sherman — “ If you see a chance of destroying Hood’s
army, attend to that first, and make your other move secondary.”
The very next day, however, General Grant consented that Sherman
should carry out his plan of campaign as he had proposed ; and a
fortnight later, on the 15 th of November, General Sherman began
his famous march through Georgia from Atlanta to the sea.

Our recollections of events after the lapse of many years, if some-
times at fault in matters of detail, often bring back into the light
important facts that have grown dim with time or have vanished
altogether from the record. Every act of man must exist as an idea
before it can exist as a reality. To crush the military power of the
Confederacy between the two armies of Sherman and Grant was the
subject on which the hopes and the thoughts of the North were
concentrated in the autumn of 1864. Hood’s blunder opened the
way and made it possible for General Sherman to realise his dream
and to turn the talk of the camp-fires into one of the most decisive
deeds in American history.

1 66

The JV ar of the Rebellion

During my visit to City Point I had an excellent
opportunity of becoming acquainted with many things
connected with the maintenance of a great army
engaged in actual warfare, such as the commissariat,
the transport service, and the provisions made for the
care of the sick and wounded. This last subject was
one that interested me particularly.

After remaining at General Grant’s headquarters
five days, I rejoined Mrs. Evans at Norfolk, and we
returned to Washington. It was not long before I
discovered the existence of a more hopeful feeling,
not only among those who directly represented the
Government, but generally among the people. The
capture of Atlanta, by Sherman, the final destruction
of Early’s army by Sheridan in the valley of the
Shenandoah, the evident collapse of the political plot
to put McClellan in the place of Lincoln, these things
encouraged the Government greatly, and filled the
minds of the loyal men of the North with hope and
confidence — a confidence that was contagious.

Very soon feeling, myself, entirely convinced that
the end of the war was not far distant, I so informed
the Emperor.

Upon my return to Paris in November, one of the
first remarks he made to me was : “ When the plan of
campaign arranged between Grant and Sherman was
reported to me, I saw by my maps that it was the
beginning of the end ” (ce fut le commencement de la fill).
These were the Emperor’s very words.

How often I have heard him express himself as
more than satisfied that he had waited and not acted
precipitately during our great internecine war ; for to

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The Secojtd French Empire

him the friendship of the whole United States was im-
portant. Yet he has suffered severely in American
opinion through those who believed and gave currency
to the false statement that he wished to divide us, and
to that end had solicited the co-operation of the
English Government.

Americans would do well to remember that if the
English Government, represented by Lord Palmerston
and Lord John Russell, did not intervene during the
War of the Rebellion, the principal cause was the per-
sonal reluctance of the Queen and the Prince Consort
to give countenance to such a policy. I do not know
that there exists any official proof of this. But that
the neutrality of the English Government at this time
should be attributed to the friendly feeling of the
Queen towards the cause for which the Northern
States were contending has always been firmly
believed by the American people.

Now there can be no question that M. Thouvenel
and M. Drouyn de Lhuys and other official represen-
tatives of the Imperial Government were as ready to
intervene in behalf of the Southern Confederacy as
were Lord John Russell and his associates. But the
Imperial Government did not take one single step in
that direction. It did not recognise the de facto
Government established at Richmond. And to the
question, Why not ? the answer is to be found in the
fact — for the truth of which I can vouch — that, per-
sonally, Napoleon III. shrank, as did Queen Victoria,
from the thought of actively contributing to the build-
ing of a great State whose corner-stone was human
slavery. Any one who knows anything of the Em-

168

1

The JVar of the Rebellion

peror or of his opinions knows that he was seldom
in accord with his ministers on questions relating to
international affairs. This, it may be said, was one of
the causes of. the apparently uncertain and indecisive
character of the Imperial policy ; for there were times
when, after his Minister for Foreign Affairs had said
one thing, the Emperor did not hesitate to say exactly
the contrary. Therefore no one need be surprised that,
whatever may have been the wishes of his ministers
with respect to the Southern Confederacy, Napoleon
III. should never have ceased to be at heart a friend
of the North.

Those persons who, careless of the facts, are in the
habit of meting out responsibility in accordance with
their prejudices and political feelings, and who are
guilty of the gross injustice of holding Napoleon III.
directly responsible for public opinion in France during
these years, should at least be sufficiently open-minded
to observe that this opinion was never exhibited in
any act of hostility to the Federal Government, either on
the land or on the sea. If the neutrality of the English
Government is generously attributed to the personal
influence of the Queen, it is but fair to give some
credit to the Emperor for the neutrality of his Govern-
ment during our Civil War — a neutrality so strictly
observed that no Alabamas were allowed to escape
from French ports to destroy our commerce.

And yet in these later years I have often wondered
that the Emperor did not recognise the Southern Con-
federacy. It would have been entirely in accordance
with our own international policy, which has been, and
is, to recognise every de facto Government without

169

The Second French Empire

regard to its origin, and without waiting to become
assured of its stability. Within forty-eight hours after
the Paris mob had set up a Government at the Hotel
de Ville, this Government was officially recognised by
Mr. Washburne, the American Minister accredited to
the Court of the Tuileries.

If there be any Americans who are still inclined to
resent the attitude they believe Napoleon III. to have
assumed towards our country during the War of the
Secession, it is well that they should be reminded of
our own public policy in similar cases ; and more than
this, if they would be just, that they should consider
how much — and to his everlasting credit — the Em-
peror resisted when declining to recognise the Southern
Confederacy. No real friend of the Federal Govern-
ment could have been expected to do more.1

I have not here to speak of the attempt to establish
an empire in Mexico, nor yet to be its apologist. This
unfortunate affair into which the Emperor allowed
himself to be drawn, partly by unwise friends and
partly by interested counsellors, went far to give
Americans the right to believe that he bore us no
good-will. It may be well, however, before pro-
nouncing a harsh judgment, to remember the condi-
tion of Mexico, suffering from chronic revolution,

1 In a private letter written to General James Watson Webb in
March, 1863, when referring to this war, the Emperor says: “As
regards the war which desolates your country, I profoundly regret it ;
for I do not see how and when it will end, and it is not to the
interest of France that the United States should be weakened by a
struggle without any good results possible. In a country as sensible
as America, it is not by arms that domestic quarrels should be
settled, but by votes, meetings, and assemblies.”

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The War of the Rebellion

repudiating its debts and international obligations,
and, at the time, in a state of absolute anarchy.
Many European Powers hoped to see a responsible,
stable Government established under Maximilian.
The Emperor’s motives were good and his action
well meant ; only he did not sufficiently take into
account the very great difficulties that would have
to be met and overcome at home, as well as abroad, in
order to succeed in an attempt to create a new empire
on the American continent.

The Emperor was deeply moved by the news of
the assassination of President Lincoln and Mr.
Seward — for it was at first reported that Mr. Seward
had been killed also. He was, however, not inclined
to attribute to this act any political significance.
“ The war ended,” he said, “ with the capitulation of
General Lee, and the act, consequently, having no
rational purpose, must be regarded as that of a political
fanatic. Such men are to be found in all countries
and as ready to strike at those who represent the
sovereignty of the people as at those who claim to
rule by Divine right.” The Empress, also, was
greatly shocked when she was informed of this dread-
ful affair, and wrote to Mrs. Lincoln a private letter
in which she expressed the sincere sympathy she felt
for her in her bereavement under such tragic circum-
stances.

And here I may say that her Majesty took a most
lively interest in the progress of the War of the
Secession from its very beginning. Not that she
cared to hear about the battles and sieges, and the
exploits of armies and commanders, but she was deeply

171

The Second French Empire

concerned to know what was being done to alleviate
the immense amount of suffering inevitable from
diseases and wounds in a war carried on over such a
vast and thinly inhabited country and on such a scale.
As early as 1862 — about the time General McClellan
opened the campaign that came to its close at
Harrison’s Landing on the James River — she asked
me if I could furnish her with any information re-
specting the provisions that had been made by our
Government for the care of the sick and wounded ;
and more particularly to what extent, if any, volun-
tary aid was supplementing the official service.
Having inquired into this matter, I explained to her
Majesty how the medical service of the United States
Army was organised ; and informed her that a
Sanitary Commission had been created, unofficial in
character but recognised by the Government, the
object of which was to inspect the camps and hospi-
tals, bring to the notice of the proper authorities any
neglect or want therein, and direct the distribution of
voluntary assistance, whether in the form of material
gifts or personal service. I told her that the people of
the North had responded most generously to the calls
for contributions issued by the Commission ; that its
agents were working harmoniously with the regular
medical staff; and that never before in any army had
such large provision been made for the sanitation of
the troops while in camp and the care of the sick and
wounded. The Empress asked me to write out what
I had told her about this Commission, which I did.
A few days afterward I received from her the follow-
ing letter :

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The JV a r of the Rebellioti

[translation]

“Paris, May 13, 1862.

“ Dr. Thomas W. Evans,

“ Sir : In reply to your letter, I thank you for the
information which you have given me with respect to
the organisation and the work of the United States
Sanitary Commission.

“This institution interests me very greatly, and I
love to think that it will not be long before many
associations, animated as this one is by the spirit of
charity and humanity, will be organised everywhere
to give succour to the wounded and the sick — to
friends and enemies alike.

“ Believe me,

“Yours very sincerely,

“ EugLnie.”

It was through the encouragement I received from
her Majesty, perhaps more than from any other
person, that I was induced to prepare a work on the
United States Sanitary Commission, which was
published in French, in 1865, under the title of “ La
Commission Sanitaire des E tat s- Unis ; son origine, son
organisation , et ses resultats

173

CHAPTER V

THE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT OF FRANCE

The importance of the works of Napoleon III. — He created modern
Paris ; its parks and waterworks ; its public buildings — Pro-
vincial cities reconstructed — Roads and railways extended —
Credit institutions founded — Commercial treaties made — The
increase of capital ; of trade — The interest of the Emperor in
the lodgings of artisans and the sanitation of cities — What the
Emperor did for agriculture — His interests in the welfare of the
industrial classes — How he came to the relief of the people at
the time of the great inundations — The Exposition of 1867 —
A dreadful picture of moral corruption — The greatest work of
Napoleon III.

NAPOLEON III. by most political and historical
writers is not criticised, but calumniated. If
his reign had ended successfully, his personal qualities
would have exalted him to the skies ; but since his
career was destroyed by a reverse of fortune, his
faults have been monstrously exaggerated, and few
writers have endeavoured to remind the world of his
public virtues and accomplishments. While, un-
fortunately, people in general are more inclined to
listen to what is said about great men than to see
and appreciate what is done by them, it is curious
to notice that the purely dramatic and spectacular
elements in the lives of the two Napoleons, as persons,

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Industrial Development

have been of such absorbing interest as to make us
almost insensible of the importance of the really
great constructive works relating to the administra-
tion of civil affairs, upon which imperishable founda-
tion the reputation of both, as sovereigns, must
ultimately rest.

I have already set forth with some particularity the
traits of the Emperor’s character that were most
strongly impressed upon me during the long period
of my personal relations with him ; and I shall
probably have occasion to refer to them again in the
desultory way that reminiscences permit, and as the
events and incidents of the narrative may suggest.
But I should not feel that I had done justice to
Napoleon III. if I failed, in my description of the
man, to refer to his merits as a ruler, and made no
mention of his work as an upbuilder of the nation.
I shall therefore, in this chapter, submit to the
reader’s consideration a few facts that ought not to
be overlooked or forgotten, and which, I trust, will
be sufficient to prove that the Emperor not only
cherished in his mind noble and generous ideas and
purposes, but that he actually did a great deal for
the welfare of his people and for the glory of
France.

Baron Haussmann, the Prefect of the Seine, when
he heard some one express admiration for the magni-
ficent results obtained as the work of reconstructing
and embellishing the city of Paris progressed, used to
say : “ It was the Emperor who marked out all this.
I have only been his collaborator.”

And if the “Great Baron” recognised the directing

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The Second Fre?ich Empire

mind and the will that created modern Paris, the
Emperor himself always most generously acknow-
ledged his obligation to this able and most devoted
collaborator.

In 1858, on the occasion of the inauguration of the
Boulevard Sebastopol, the Emperor said : “ When
succeeding generations shall traverse our great city,
not only will they acquire a taste for the beautiful,
from the spectacle of these works of art, but, in
reading the names inscribed upon our bridges and our
streets, they will recall to themselves the glory of
our armies — from Rivoli to Sebastopol. All these
grand results I owe to the co-operation of the
Legislative Body, who, renouncing all provincial
selfishness, have learned that a country like France
should have a capital worthy of itself, and have not
hesitated to grant the sums which the Government
has solicited. I owe them also to the enlightened co-
operation of the Municipal Council. But especially
do I owe their prompt and judicious execution to the
intelligent magistrate whom I have placed at the
head of the Department of the Seine, who while
maintaining in the finances of the city an order worthy
of all praise, has been able in so short a time to com-
plete enterprises so numerous, and that in the midst
of obstacles incessantly arising from the spirit of
routine and disparagement.”

M. Maxime du Camp says : “ If, by a fairy’s wand,
the Paris of the time of the Revolution of February
could be brought back and exhibited to the modern
world, people would wonder how a race which loves
luxury so much as the Parisians do, could have lived

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Industrial Development

in such a pestilential and unhealthy city as the French
capital was before Napoleon III., with the assistance
of his intelligent Prefect Haussmann, changed Paris
into the attractive place of residence which it has now
become.” 1

The filthy and dangerous lanes of the Montagne
Sainte-Genevieve, and the ugly wine- shops near the
Arc de Triomphe, were, to use an expression of the
author mentioned, “ the plague-spots ” through which
the Emperor drew his pencil, erecting in their place
broad streets and handsome boulevards. The whole
city was reconstructed upon a grand plan. The special
aim of the Emperor was to make the several quarters
of his capital beautiful, and at the same time healthy,
by changing the general style of the buildings, and by
establishing a great number of public gardens and
promenades, where the children and the aged and
the infirm could enjoy the benefit of the fresh air and
the sun. For if the West End of Paris had its Bois
de Boulogne, to the East Side, the artisan quarter of
the capital, was given to the Bois de Vincennes, the
disposition of whose spacious grounds, with their broad
avenues, superb trees, grassy lawns and fountains, and
magnificent vistas, compels the admiration of every
.ane. Nor should we forget to mention the Buttes-
Chaumont, that exquisite little park opened in Belle-
ville, in the slums of the city, which, as a work of art,
s the most beautiful of all the Paris parks, and yet is
>;o seldom seen by the foreign visitor.

For the same purpose the splendid sewers of

1 “Paris, ses Organes, ses Fonctions et sa vie.” Paris, Hachette
t Cie., 1875.

I VOL. I.

1 77

N

The Second French Empire

Paris were constructed, which are the admiration of
foreigners as well as of Parisians, and which, by their
extent alone, create astonishment, for even in the
year 1869 they were 518 kilometres (over 300 miles)
in length.

In the year 1852 the city was not able to distribute
more than 105,000 cubic metres of water per day,
while under the Empire the waterworks were so im-
proved that, in the year 1869, 538,000 cubic metres
were furnished daily. But this was not all. As late
as the year 1866 the water used by the inhabitants of
Paris, even for domestic purposes, was taken almost
entirely from the Seine and the river Marne. It was
impossible to preserve it from pollution, and conse-
quently typhoid was endemic in the city, and the
death-rate was high. The serious defects, and the
absolute inadequacy of the system employed to supply
Paris with water, and especially with potable water,
were frequently pointed out. But the great majority
of Parisians would appear to have accepted as defini-
tive the pronouncement of the hygienist Parmentier,
the discoverer of the potato, who declared, in 1787,
that “ the water of the Seine unites all the qualities
which could be desired to make it agreeable to the
palate, light in the stomach, and favourable to diges-
tion ; and the Parisians are not wrong if they never
end their eulogies of the Seine, and if they contend
with assurance that its waters are the best of all
waters.” In the presence of such a prejudice, and
in view of the prevailing ignorance with respect to
sanitary matters, it is not surprising that practically
nothing was done to improve a situation that was

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Industrial Development

becoming constantly more and more dangerous to
the public health, until the Emperor took up the
subject of supplying Paris with drinking water from
uncontaminated sources. For this special purpose
work was begun in 1864, and the aqueduct of the
Dhuis was completed in 1866, at a cost Qf 18,000,000
francs; it was 13 1 kilometres in length, and brought
into the city 25,000 cubic metres of water daily.

But in the meantime the ravages of the cholera, in
1865, had again drawn the attention of hygienists to
the insufficiency of the water supply, and two years
later the construction of the aqueduct of the Vanne
was begun. This great work was finished at a cost of
52,000,000 francs; it was 173 kilometres in length,
and provided Paris daily with 120,000 cubic metres
of spring water of excellent quality.

The beauty of several of the public buildings
erected by the late Emperor is an attraction and a
delight to every visitor to Paris. But few Parisians
even have any idea of the very large number of these
buildings, or of the number of the great monumental
constructions that were built in Paris during his
reign ; for as far as possible the Government of the
Republic has carefully obliterated every name in-
scribed upon them, and every emblem they bore
indicative of their origin. I shall therefore remind
the reader that it was Napoleon III. who connected
the Louvre with the Tuileries, who built the churches
of Saint Augustin, La Trinite, Sainte-Clotilde, Saint
Joseph, Saint Ambroise, Saint Eugene, Notre Dame-
des-Champs, Saint Pierre de Mont Rouge, and many
others ; that it was he who erected or restored the

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The Second French Empire

splendid edifices of the new Palais de Justice, the
Tribunal de Commerce, the Hotel Dieu, the Grand
Opera, the Halles Centrales, and the Temple; that it
was he who built the great bridges over the Seine,
the Pont Napoleon III., the Pont de Bercy, the Pont
d’ Areola, the Pont Notre Dame, the Pont au Change,
the Pont au Double, the Petit Pont, the Pont Louis
Philippe, the Pont Saint Michel, the Pont de Sol-
ferino, the Pont des Invalides, the Pont d’Alma, and
the Pont d’Auteuil ; that it was he who surrounded
the parks and the gardens with their gilded railings
and erected their great entrance gates, and who
adorned the French capital with fountains and
statues, and a hundred other ornamental structures.

On account of the interest which the Emperor took
in the arts and sciences, the collections of the Louvre
were quadrupled ; the so-called Campagne Galleries
were purchased ; the “ Union Centrale des Beaux-
Arts appliques a l’industrie ” was founded ; the Musee
d’Artillerie received rich additions ; in the old Palace
of Saint Germain the well-known archaeological
museum was created ; the Musee de Cluny and the
Tour Saint Jacques were restored; the Hotel Carna-
velet was changed into a museum for a collection of
the antiquities of the city of Paris; the Imperial
Library received some very valuable additions ; and
the Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve was thrown open
to the public.

In fact the city of Paris, as it appears to the visitor
to-day, was created by Napoleon III. ; for whatever
public improvements have been made, since 1870,
have been executed only to complete the original

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hicLustrial Developme?it

plan of the Emperor and his famous Prefect of the
Seine.1

“Victor Hugo,” says Blanchard Jerrold in his
“ Life of Napoleon the Third,” “dwells in a fashion-
able quarter of Paris, his beloved city, which had no
existence when he went into exile. He tells every
foreign visitor who calls on him that there have been
three cities of the world — Athens, Rome, Paris ; but
when he says ‘ Paris-Urbs,’ he forgets the sovereign
who made her what she is, and laid the foundation of
that matchless city of the future, which, according to
him, will have the Arc de Triomphe for its centre.”

It should be remembered, also, that these great
public works were constructed not merely during the
Imperial regime, but at the suggestion, and frequently
by the command, of the Emperor himself ; that they
were, in a word, something more than the products of
the general social demands and industrial activities
and forces of the period. It is impossible to deny
this. Who has not heard of the “ Comptes fantas-
tiques d’Haussmann ” ? Indeed, the opposition to
nearly all these improvements, on the ground of their
uselessness and extravagance, was so noisy and so
general, while they were being executed, that its
echoes are still to be heard whenever questions con-
cerning public works in the city of Paris are under
discussion in the Municipal Council or in the Chamber
of Deputies.

1 This statement was absolutely true when it was written, and
excepting the improvements made in connection with the Exposition
of 1900, among which the “Metropolitan” subway should -be in-
cluded, is true now, in 1905.

I8l

The Second French Empire

But while these improvements and embellishments
of the capital were being made, the provincial cities,
and the picturesque nooks and corners even, of the
Empire were not neglected. Lord Malmesbury,
writing in 1863, says: “I stopped a day at Carcas-
sonne, an ancient city so famous for the desperate
fighting of the Albigeois and the deeds of Simon de
Montfort. The Emperor has had the city and forti-
fications restored exactly to the state they were in
at this time ; the streets are just wide enough for a
cart to pass, and the towers and battlements are what
they were in the thirteenth century. In every part of
France he is making archaeological restorations, and
his active mind seems as much interested in this
pursuit as it is in politics ; but,” he adds significantly,
“as far as I can observe, the French do not appreciate
his efforts as they deserve.”

In the meantime the whole country was greatly
benefited by works constructed with direct reference
to the development of the national resources ; and by
the establishment or enlargement of public institutions,
the creation of technical schools and reformations in
the universities.

In order to facilitate communication throughout the
Empire, 26,846 kilometres of macadamised roads were
made, many rivers were rendered navigable, ports were
improved, and the docks of Cherbourg were finished.

The shipping employed in commerce, and especially
that portion of it which was engaged in the coasting-
trade, was considerably increased in tonnage and
greatly improved ; while the navy, that had previously

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Industrial Developme7it

consisted of wooden sailing-vessels, was transformed
into a fleet of armoured steamships.

The railways were extended over the whole of
France ; and in 1869 the total length of these roads
amounted to 23,900 kilometres. The new system of
telegraphy was inaugurated and rapidly developed.

In order to free property from the burden of debts
and to encourage industry, numerous credit institutions
were founded, among them the well-known Credit
Foncier. And when the Government wished to
borrow money it did not address itself simply to the
great bankers, but gave a chance of profit to persons
having little capital, by raising the loan through public
subscriptions. In 1847 the public funds were in the
hands of 207,000 persons, two-thirds of whom were
living in Paris. In 1854 the number of holders of
these funds had increased to 664,000, more than half
of whom were living in the Departments. This
diffusion among the people of the securities of the
State was evidence not only of increasing general
prosperity, but of public confidence in the stability of
the Government.

In i860 the commercial treaty with England gave
to France the benefits of freer trade ; and some years
later similar treaties were concluded with other
countries, and the commerce of the Empire increased
largely.

As the colonies were included in the provisions of
these treaties, and the markets of the world were thus
opened to them, they were enabled to extend their
trade with foreign countries, and to share in the
benefits derived by the mother country from the

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The Second French Empire

liberal and enlightened commercial policy of the
Imperial Government

Paris, especially, felt the stimulating influence of
this policy. Not only was its industrial oucput
enormously increased, but property rose in value on
every side. In 1847 the manufactures of the city
represented a value of but 1,500,000,000 francs; in
1869 their value was over 6,000,000,000. And while
the lands within the limits of the city, together with
the buildings, in 1851, was taxed on an estimated
value of 2,557,000,000 francs, in 1869 it was rated at

5.957.000. 000 francs.

In 1851 the revenues of the city amounted to

52.000. 000 francs, and already in 1867 they had been
increased to 151,000,000 francs.

The improvements affecting trade in general under
the Empire were such that the exports and imports,
which represented, in 1848, a value of 1,645,000,000
francs, had increased in 1857 to 4,593,000,000 francs,
and in 1869 to 6,228,000,000 francs. In 1850 th z. per
capita wealth of the nation was estimated at about
2,500 francs; it had reached nearly double that sum
in 1870. In a word, France enjoyed, during a period
of eighteen years, unbounded and unbroken industrial
prosperity.1

Just as the Empress paid especial attention to the

1 By one of those chances of dramatic injustice only too common
in the world of affairs, by which one man reaps where another man
has sown, the credit which justly attaches to this great increase in
the national wealth has been given not to Napoleon III., but to
M. Thiers, to whose financial ability is attributed the extraordinary
facility and rapidity with which the enormous war ransom demanded
by Prince Bismarck was paid off by the French Republic.

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Industrial Development

needs of the poor and the sick, so the Emperor
devoted much time to the consideration of ways and
means for ameliorating the situation of the working
classes.

The sanitary conditions obtaining in the houses
and lodgings of the great majority of labourers and
artisans seemed to him to be exceedingly defective.
He accordingly caused numerous model lodging-
houses, as well as model dwellings for single families,
to be constructed, and finally introduced into France
the English Building Society system. In the year
1859 he contributed 100,000 francs towards the
improvement of houses for workmen in Lille ; and
similar gifts were made for the same purpose to the
municipalities of Amiens, Bayonne, and other cities.
In the year 1864 the sum of 1,500,000 francs was
expended by the Emperor in building 180 workmen’s
houses; and in 1867-68 he built 42 model houses for
working people at Daumesnil.

Sanitary science, we may unhesitatingly say, was,
previous to 1852, scarcely known in France outside
of Paris ; and nearly all the improvements which have
since been made in the sanitary condition of French
cities were begun not only under the reign, but at the
instance and direction, of Napoleon III. His Govern-
ment voted, in 1852, the sum of 10,000,000 francs for
the purpose of improving the public health of manufac-
turing towns ; and the Emperor seldom visited any
of the cities of France without making inquiries w'ith
respect to the water supply, drainage, overcrowding,
and all those matters that concern the health of the
inhabitants of cities, or without impressing upon the

185

The Second French Empire

municipal authorities the importance, and the neces-
sity even, of having in the construction and the
administration of public works a strict regard for the
requirements of sanitary science.

But it was not the inhabitants of cities only whose
fortunes were improved, whose opportunities were
enlarged, and who were benefited in many ways by
the care of the French monarch. He paid great
attention to agriculture and its improvement, and was
always deeply interested in all public measures the
object of which was to advance the interests of the
tillers of the soil. In the year 1852 he established in
every arrondissement agricultural associations ; he also
encouraged agricultural exhibitions by rich donations.
On the 10th of June, 1854, he introduced a law for
facilitating the drainage of marshes, and a credit of
100,000,000 francs was opened, from which farmers
and land-owners could borrow capital to drain their
lands, with the privilege of repaying their loans in
instalments extending over a period of twenty-five
years.

Model farms were erected in many parts of the
French Empire ; and vast tracts of country which,
previously covered with sand-dunes, had been entirely
barren, and moors and fens uninhabited on account
of malaria were transformed into productive forests,
healthy territories, rich corn-fields, and beautiful
gardens.

The endeavours of Napoleon III. to improve the
condition of the poor and to help them in their mis-
fortunes were once known all over France; at present,
however, the world seems to have forgotten them.

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bidustrial Development

The time he gave to the study of questions concern-
ing the welfare of the masses of the people, and more
particularly of the industrial classes, is truly remark-
able. It was a subject that was never out of his
mind. A paper on the means of relieving the
situation of aged and necessitous working men,
without having recourse to public charity, written
in his own hand, was found at the Tuileries, bearing
the date of July 5, 1870. And six years before — in
1864 — he gave instructions that the Opera House
which was bein^ erected in Paris should not be
finished until the Hotel Dieu, the great central
hospital of the city, had been built and its wards
opened to the public. The Emperor felt that
human life was worth more to the State than the
most splendid products of art, and that it was the
duty of a sovereign to satisfy the wants and assuage
the sufferings of his people before providing for their
pleasures and amusements. “Admitting,” he says,
“ that this arrangement has no practical advantage,
from a moral point of view I hold it important that
the edifice to be devoted to pleasure shall not be
raised before the shelter for suffering”

o

At the time of the disastrous floods that ravaged
the valleys of the Loire and the Rhone, invading
Orleans, Blois, Tours, Lyons, Arles, Orange, Avig-
non, and scores of other cities, sweeping away houses,
turning the streets into canals, covering the country
for miles around with great lakes — a catastrophe in-
volving not only the loss of many lives but the
destruction of a vast amount of property — the
Emperor came to the relief of his unfortunate people

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The Second French Empire

promptly and most generously. Six hundred thousand
francs from his own private purse he gave them at
once to meet the most pressing individual needs.
And this sum was greatly increased by the gifts
made in the name of the Empress and the Prince
Imperial. Subsequently 2,000,000 francs were granted
by the Chambers to assist the sufferers from those
inundations.

But the interest of the Emperor in this great
calamity was not limited to a benevolent desire
to supply the immediate wants of those who had
lost everything they possessed. He wished to see
for himself just what had taken place, how it had
happened, and what could be done to prevent a
repetition of the disaster. With this object in view,
he visited personally the departments that were the
scene of the calamity, wading in the water or being
rowed in a boat for miles across the inundated fields.
Then he directed that a detailed report of the damage
caused by the floods should be prepared, together
with plans for the construction of the works neces-
sary to keep the waters of the two rivers between
their banks. The letter he wrote from Plombieres
shortly after, in July, 1856, to his Minister of Public
Works, is no less remarkable on account of the extra-
ordinary knowledge it shows the Emperor possessed
of the technical details of hydraulic engineering,
than for the earnestness with which he urges the
minister to set about this particular work at once,
on the spot, and not suffer it to end in talk and
“luminous reports.”

And if now, for more than forty years, no similar

188

Industrial Development

disasters have occurred in the valleys of the Loire and
the Rhone, it is not because the rains have become
less torrential there, but because, in accordance with
the wishes, and, I might almost say, under the per-
sonal direction of the Emperor, provisions were made
and works were constructed at the danger points which
have proved sufficient to prevent any considerable
overflow of the waters of these rivers.

The Exposition of 1867 was a brilliant, if transient,
representation of the work accomplished in France
since 1855, in nearly every field of human interest and
activity, in the sciences, the arts, in morals, in politics,
and in charity. All the nations of the world were
invited to participate in this great festival, and by their
presence to crown the efforts of labour with the idea of
conciliation and peace. Its success was immense and
well deserved. The international exhibitions of later
years have been “ bigger,” but not one of them has been
so admirably organised, so proportionate in its several
parts, so perfectly fitted to facilitate those comparative
studies of the materials, conditions, methods, and pro-
ducts exhibited, which increase the sum of useful
knowledge and extend the benefits of civilisation to
distant communities. Nor has any similar international
assembly ever contributed more effectively to establish
a feeling of respect for each other, and relations of
concord and amity among the rulers of the world. This
was the supreme purpose of the Exposition of 1867.
It was an impressive manifestation of the Imperial will
that the sword was to be no longer the instrument
upon which France relied for the maintenance of her
prestige and influence among the nations. On the

189

The Second French Empire

occasion of the distribution of awards on the ist of
July — one of the most magnificent ceremonies which
it was ever my privilege to witness — the Emperor
closed his address with these words :

“ May those who have lived a little while among us
carry back with them a just opinion of our country ; let
them be persuaded that we entertain sentiments of
esteem and sympathy for foreign nations, and that we
sincerely desire to live in peace with them. This
Exposition will mark, I hope, a new era of harmony
and progress. Convinced, as I am, that Providence
blesses the efforts of all those who wish to do well, as
we do, I believe in the definitive triumph of the great
principles of morality and justice, which, satisfying all
legitimate aspirations, are able alone to consolidate
thrones, lift up the people, and ennoble humanity.”

It has often been said that the Exposition of 1867
marked the apogee of the Imperial power. All eyes
were then turned towards France ; never had such a
concourse of distinguished visitors, princes, kings, and
emperors assembled in the capital of a foreign State to
pay homage to its sovereigns. But it marked also, in
an extraordinary manner, the progress that had been
made by the people under the Empire, materially and
socially ; for never before had the industrial forces and
artistic genius of France been exhibited with such
splendour and effect.

But some one may ask : While all these things may
have been done by the Emperor, has not the whole
period of the Empire often been characterised by con-
temporary writers as one pre-eminently devoted to the
cultivation of material interests, to inordinate specula-

190

Industrial Develop7ne?it

tion, luxury, and immorality? It certainly has been.
And the bill of indictment reads as follows : “ The
commercial and industrial activity of this epoch, and
the over-stimulation which it g-ives to all the material
appetites, have resulted in a frightful competition, the
most shocking forms of stock-jobbing, and a love of
dollars more impudent and brazen-faced than under
the Regency or the Directory. To get money with-
out work, by the shortest cuts, to invent ways of
speculating on the credulity of the public, to find dupes —
in a word, to transact business — is the sole thought and
occupation of the most influential part of the population,
of a society brilliant and corrupt, as destitute of belief
as of feeling, and that knows only material pleasures
and the enjoyments of luxury.”

This is the dreadful picture which has been drawn
of the decadence and moral corruption that existed
under the Empire. No, I am mistaken. These words
were used in describing the state of things under the
government of Louis Philippe and his austere minister,
M. Guizot.1 And they have been used, or words quite
like them have been used, and can be found in every
account of the life of a great people since history began
to be written. Moreover, they will continue to be
used by political moralists so long as civilised society
exists ; for the more splendid its fruits, the more
renowned the victories of peace, so the more con-
spicuous are likely to be some of their undesirable
products and accompaniments. In short, as certain
social conditions seem to be inevitable, when the
rewards of labour are abundant and wealth accumulates,

' Lavalles, “ Histoire de Paris,” tome i. p. 312.

191

The Second French Empire

it follows that some of the most serious charges directed
against the domestic policy and the morality of the
Imperial Government are in reality only a way of
saying what I have endeavoured to briefly set forth in
the preceding pages — that, under the rule of Napoleon
III., the French people enjoyed unusual material
prosperity.

But the greatest work of Napoleon III. was in the
field of international politics, and was performed for
the honour, the glory, and the greater empire of
France. This was the destruction of the European
coalition that had held, or tried to hold, France in sub-
jection since the overthrow of the First Empire. It
was his wisdom in entering into an alliance with
England, the prestige gained by the war in the
Crimea, strengthened and completed by his successful
intervention, in 1859, in behalf of the kingdom of
Italy, that restored to France her hegemony on the
Continent of Europe. This leadership was lost as
one of the consequences of the unfortunate war of
1870-71. But the credit that rightfully belongs to
Napoleon III. of having won for France the position
of political pre-eminence which it held during his reign
among the great Powers, should not be either cynically
or complacently ignored by those who have most
keenly felt and bitterly bemoaned the loss of this
leadership.

192

CHAPTER VI

THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR OF 1870-71

A visit to Saint Cloud — The candidature of Prince Leopold of Ho-
henzollern — The Duke de Gramont — The Emperor not inclined
to war — The opinion of the Empress — The Emperor’s bad
counsellors — General Leboeuf — An incident — Public feeling —
I propose to establish an ambulance — The service is subse-
quently rendered — The declaration of war — Enthusiasm of
the people — The excitement in Paris — The anxiety of the Em-
peror— He felt that France was not prepared for the war —
His interest in the army — The condition sine qua non — Words
not to be forgotten — The departure of the troops — The Em-
press is appointed Regent — The Emperor leaves Saint Cloud
for Metz — Misgivings.

IN July, 1870, I invited a large number of
Americans, together with a few French friends,
to a garden-party at my house in the Avenue de
rimperatrice, in order to celebrate with them the
anniversary of the establishment of our Govern-
ment ; and we spent the long afternoon of that
splendid summer day confraternally, and in grateful
remembrance of the virtues of our forefathers.

Although some of us had been living abroad for
many years, it was evident that not one of our num-
ber had forgotten how much he owed to his native
land ; that if national prejudices had disappeared, the
love of home and the patriotism of all had not dimin-
vol. 1. 193 o

The Second French Empire

ished. Indeed, many — too many — of my fellow-
countrymen have yet to learn that the flag of our
Union is never so beautiful or so glorious as when
raised on foreign soil, and that no eyes are so quickly
moistened, no hearts so deeply moved by the music
of our national airs and melodies, as are those of
“expatriated” Americans.

The Emperor, who was one of the most observant
men of his time, not only fully appreciated the value
and significance of our American institutions, but, as
I have already had occasion to remark, took a great
interest in all matters that related in any way to the
United States. Having seen his Majesty a few days
previous to the above-mentioned gathering, I told
him of my intention to celebrate the 4th of July by
inviting to my house those of my countrymen who
were residing in or visiting Paris ; and he then ex-
pressed a wish to learn, after the fete was over, how
it went off. I was so greatly pleased, and, indeed,
so proud of the extraordinary success of my garden-
party, that, mindful of his Majesty’s request, I decided
to go, on the morning of the 5th, to Saint Cloud,
where the Imperial family then resided.

It was between six and seven o’clock when I left
my house, but, although the hour was rather unusual
for such a visit, I knew the Emperor would be up, for
he was an early riser ; and, besides, my duties obliged
me to return to Paris before a certain hour.

When I arrived at the palace I looked up at the
balcony on which the windows of the Emperor’s
dressing-room opened, for I expected that I should
find the French monarch standing there, as he had

194

The Franco-German JVar

the habit of doing, smoking his cigarette and enjoying
the morning air. But there was no one upon the
balcony, and I was surprised to see the windows of
the suite of rooms which the Emperor occupied
standing wide open — a sure sign that he was not
present in that part of the palace, and that he had
left his chambers unusually early.

Hastening upstairs, I met M. Goutellard, his
Majesty’s valet de chambre, the expression of whose
features confirmed my apprehension that something
extraordinary had taken place. On inquiring, I was
informed by him that the Emperor had been aroused
from his sleep long before daylight by despatches
which had been sent to him from the Foreign Office,
and which seemed to have made upon his Majesty a
very great impression.

While I was still wondering what could possibly
have occurred, the Emperor himself appeared. He
saluted me cordially, although his manner betrayed
dissatisfaction and annoyance. Seeing my surprise,
he directed my attention to the papers which he held
in his hand, and told me in a few words their con-
tents. These despatches related to the candidature
of the Prince of Hohenzollern for the throne of Spain,
which had been announced by the Press the day
before.

The Duke de Gramont, the French Minister for
Foreign Affairs, from whom the communications had
come, had reported the information received by him
in a way that made it seem of very great and pro-
bably undue importance, as I judged from the
Emperor’s extreme gravity of demeanour, which

195

lhe Seco?id French F7npire

struck me forcibly and left upon my mind a painful
impression. I could not help recalling at the time
the remark made to me by a statesman of European
reputation, on the announcement of the appointment
of the Duke de Gramont to the office of Minister for
Foreign Affairs : “ Believe me, the appointment for-
bodes a Franco-German war.”

This remark was based upon a correct estimate of
the character of the man. But, unfortunately, the
Emperor placed great confidence in the Duke ; and I
could easily see, from the conversation which ensued
on that eventful morning, that although in the judg-
ment of his Majesty a war with Prussia should be
avoided, if possible, the influence of this minister, and
of others, was so strong that these rash and ill-advised
despatches had their full and intended effect. The
Emperor was persuaded that France had really been
insulted, although at the moment there was perhaps
no sufficient reason for such an interpretation of the
Hohenzollern candidature.

The Emperor, while I was still present at the
palace, gave orders that a telegram should be sent
to Paris, summoning the Duke de Gramont to Saint
Cloud ; and notwithstanding the early hour, he
hastened to the rooms of the Empress to inform her
of the communications to which he attributed such
great importance. Everything indicated the approach
of a crisis ; and I left Saint Cloud with many mis-
givings, because I greatly feared that the bad advisers
of the French monarch would lead him to commit
mistakes which might have the most serious con-
sequences.

196

The Frcinco-Ger?nan W ar

On the same day the Duke de Gramont had, as I
heard from good authority, a long conversation with
his sovereign, and I felt sure the Duke had used
this opportunity to disturb the mind of the Emperor
— to insist upon the gravity of the incident, and the
necessity of meeting it by a peremptory declaration
on the part of the Imperial Government. The result
proved that I was not mistaken.

On the evening of this day (July 5th) Prince de
Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador, having gone
to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was addressed by
the Duke de Gramont as follows :

“ I am very glad to see you. I have just come
from Saint Cloud, and from a very excited meeting
of the Council. You know what has happened?”
“I suppose,” said the Prince, “you refer to the
Prussian candidature.” “Ah,” replied the Duke, “it
is a great affair ; ” and he added with firmness, and
at the same time with emotion: “That will never
be ; we shall oppose it by every means, even were
a war with Prussia the result.”1

When the news of the candidature of Leopold,
Prince of Hohenzollern, first became known to the
French people, few of them considered it to be of
any great importance, because almost everybody
believed that a diplomatic note to the Government
of Spain would be sufficient to induce Marshal Prim
to withdraw his offer of the throne to a relative of
the Prussian King. Such a solution of the question
would have been the most natural.

1 Despatch of Prince de Metternich toCountde Beust, July 8, 1870.

197

The Seco?id French Empire

The journals that had been devoted to the Empire
from its foundation, saw no reason for taking- offence
at an act concerning the propriety of which the
Spanish people, in fact, were the sole judges. But
the Duke de Gramont, with others, took the matter
“ au tragique ,” and in the Legislative Assembly and
through the Press he strove to persuade the world
that the candidature of a Prussian prince was an
insult to France, and that the Government of the
King of Prussia should be called upon to disown
this nomination, and to order the prince to withdraw
his unauthorised acceptance of it, otherwise war
would be unavoidable.

The Cabinet of the Emperor, in view of the difficult
situation that had been suddenly created, became im-
mediately divided. The Duke de Gramont, General
Lebceuf, Rigault de Genouilly, and Maurice Richard
showed an inclination to make this candidature a
casus belli ; on the other side, Chevandier de Val-
drome, Louvet, Segris, and Plichon threatened to
lay down their portfolios in case war should be
declared ; while Ollivier, de Parien, and Mege wished
to temporise.

The Emperor, personally, was not at all inclined
to precipitate a war with Germany. Not but that
he recognised the serious character of the situation
which had been created — that it would be impossible
for his Government to permit Prince Leopold to
accept the offer made by Marshal Prim. But he
saw no necessity for making a casus belli of an
incident which, in his opinion, could be and ought
to be disposed of by intelligent diplomacy. “ If

198

The Fra?ico- German IV \ ar

we can only get this candidature out of the way,”
said he, “ no matter how it is done , there will be
no war.” And it was with this object in view
that, without consulting his ministers, the Emperor
requested the King of Belgium to use his personal
influence at Sio-marinofen to obtain a withdrawal of
Prince Leopold’s candidature, and thus close the
incident and preserve the peace of Europe. When,
on the 1 2th of July, the Emperor heard that Prince
Antoine had telegraphed to Marshal Prim announcing
the withdrawal in his name of his son’s acceptance
of the Spanish crown, he sent immediately for Signor
Nigra to come to the Tuileries. Greeting the Italian
Ambassador most cordially on his arrival, the Emperor
told him the news, and said : “ This despatch of
Prince Antoine means peace. I have requested you
to come here for the purpose of having you telegraph
the news to your Government. I have not had
time to write to the King. I know very well that
public opinion is so excited that it would have pre-
ferred war. But this renunciation is a satisfactory
solution, and disposes, at least for the present, of
every pretext for hostilities.”

The same day he said to General Bourbaki, with
evident delight, “ It will not be necessary for you
to get ready your war-gear, for every cause of conflict
is now removed.”

And meeting a number of officers shortly after-
ward, he said before them all : “ This news is a
great relief to me. I am very glad that everything
has ended in this way. War is always a big
venture.”

199

I

The Second French Empire

At one of the very last Cabinet Councils, while
Marshal Lebceuf continued to assert that “ we are
now ready,” and that, “if we do not strike immedi-
ately, we shall lose an opportunity which we shall
never have again,” the Emperor proposed that the
whole subject of the controversy should be submitted
to arbitration. And this proposition was accepted —
but too late.

Lebceuf had issued his orders for mobilising- the
army ; and the falsified despatch published that very
day in the North German Gazette , by the direction
of Count Bismarck, produced its intended effect — in
the picturesque language of its author, “ the effect of
a red flag on the French bull.” In a word, peace
was no longer possible.1 Ever since 1866 the
Emperor had known only too well the completeness
of the German military organisation, and the feeling
of hostility towards everything French that prevailed
at Berlin. General Ducrot, who was in command
at Strasbourg, had kept him well informed upon
these subjects in letters addressed to him personally.
He had read the comprehensive and precise reports
of Colonel Stoffel, the very able French military
attache at the Prussian Court. He had listened
to what some of the cleverest observers and inter-
preters of German opinion had to say on these
subjects. But even he had been nearly all the
while optimistic ; for he believed the destiny of
France and his own destiny to be in his own
keeping.

When the Countess de Pourtales, who had been

1 See Appendix V.

200

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The Franco-German JVar

visiting relatives in Prussia not long before the war,
said to him, “ If you only knew what is said there,
and could only see what is being done on every side
to be ready for a war that is imminent ! ” the Emperor,
smiling at what he evidently regarded as an exag-
gerated portrayal of the actual facts, replied :
“ Through what clouds have those fine eyes been
looking at the future ? You forget, my dear Countess,
that to have a war requires the consent of two. And
I don’t wish it ! ” This was the Emperor’s greatest
mistake. In July, 1870, his consent was not neces-
sary. The people were then sovereign. When he
discovered this, the gravity of the situation began to
bear down upon him.

In his reply to M. Schneider, who, immediately
after the declaration of war, addressed him on behalf
of the Legislative Assembly, and assured his Majesty
that he would have the patriotic co-operation of this
body, the Emperor said: “The real author of this
war is not the one who has declared it, but he who
has made it necessary. I have done all that I could
to prevent it ; but the whole nation by an irresistible
impulse has dictated my resolution.” And it should
not fail to be observed that he justified himself in
yielding to this dictation by affirming that the object
he hoped to gain was not glory nor national aggran-
disement, but the realisation of those humanitarian
sentiments and ideals which formed the bed-rock of
his whole political philosophy — the peace of the world
and a general disarmament. “We seek,” said he,
“ a durable peace, and to put a stop to that precarious
state in which all the nations are squandering their

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The Second French F?npire

resources in arming themselves one against the
other.” 1

Having frequent occasion to see the Emperor
between the 5th and 15th of July, I became con-
vinced that he listened only reluctantly to those who
tried to prove to him that a Franco-German conflict
had become unavoidable ; and I am certain that when
he at last yielded, and gave his consent that the
Legislative Body should be called upon to “take
immediately the necessary measures for the protection
of the interests, the security, and the honour of
France,” it was not done heedlessly, but with a full
sense of his own responsibilities, and with a clear
understanding of the possible consequences of a war
with Germany. He was perfectly aware that he and
King William would not engage in a war on equal
terms ; that the King might lose many battles and
keep his crown ; but that for him defeat would be
destruction.

The Empress Eugenie also had more than once
expressed, in my presence, her opinion that a war
with Germany was not by any means desirable ; and
although the enemies of the Napoleonic dynasty have

1 “ Nous ne faisons pas la guerre a rAllemagne, dont nous respec-
tons l’independance. Nous faisons des vceux pour que les peuples
qui composent la grand nationality germanique disposent librement
de leur destinees.

Quant a nous, nous reclamons l’etablissement d’un etat de choses
qui garantisse notre securite et assure l’avenir. Nous voulons con-
querir une paix durable, basee sur les vrais interets des peuples, et
faire cesser cet etat precaire oil toutes les nations emploient leurs
ressources a s’armer les uns contre les autres.” — Proclamatio?i de
P Empereur, Juillet 29, 1870.

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The F?*anco-German War

never ceased to maintain that it was the Empress
who was the most insistent in persuading the Emperor
to enter upon that disastrous campaign, I believe that
she, on the contrary, was not only disposed to do, but
as a matter of fact did do, all in her power to preserve
peace, so long as peace was possible.1 What her real
opinions were with respect to this war are set forth in
the following note which she sent me soon after she
arrived in England. It is in her own handwriting,
and is now published for the first time.

[translation]

“It is said that the war was desired and made in
a dynastic interest. Common sense only is needed to
prove the contrary. The Plebiscitum had given great
strength to the Empire ; the war could add nothing
to it. Were it fortunate, it might give glory, doubt-
less ; but if unfortunate, it might overthrow the
dynasty. What man in his senses would stake the
existence of his country, and his own life, on a toss-
up ? No ; the war was neither desired nor sought by
the Emperor ; it was submitted to. After the reforms
of the 2nd of January, parties acquired in France new

1 The expression u dest via guerre attributed to the Empress by
Gambetta, who gave as his authority M. Le Sourd, the first secretary
of the French embassy at Berlin, is a miserable fiction. M. Le
Sourd has denied over his own signature that he ever heard the
Empress utter these words or that he had ever repeated them.
The phrase belongs to a notorious class of alleged sayings that it is
almost impossible to successfully contradict, for the very obvious, if
paradoxical, reason that, before they are heard of, or even exist,
they are believed to be true by most of those persons who believe
in them at all.

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The Seco?id French Empire

power ; they urged the Government on to war by
manifestations and through the Press. Since 1866
the Opposition had never ceased to say to France
that she was humiliated. Then — in 1866 — the per-
sonal influence of the Emperor alone was able to
avoid the conflict. But in 1870 he was overridden
(d^bordd), having no longer the power in his hands.”

Unfortunately, at this most critical moment, when
prejudice and passion were creating public opinion
and determining the national will, the advisers of the
Emperor were neither intelligent enough nor con-
scientious enough to give him such counsel as would
have been of service to their country. The Minister
of War, especially, Marshal Leboeuf, an impetuous
and indiscreet man, was guilty of having greatly
deceived not only his sovereign, but the public, and
perhaps himself, in regard to the real strength and
efficiency of the French army, and its chances of
success in case of a contest with Prussia. He told
every one who came in contact with him that the
French army was in an excellent condition, and that
everything was prepared for immediate action. “ I
am ready,” he said. “ Never have we been so ready;
never shall we be so ready ; the war, sooner or later,
is inevitable. Let us accept it.” An expression of
his of a similar kind, namely, “ Not even a gaiter-
button is wanting,” has become known all over Europe.
Unfortunately, there were many persons who could
not see how exaggerated were these assertions of
the Minister, and who therefore believed in their
correctness.

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7 "he Franco-German JVar

Marshal Lebceuf not only gave the Emperor a
wrong impression as to the general efficiency of the
French army, but he also made averments concerning
the armies and military resources of Germany, of which
he knew but little, that were entirely erroneous.

Having myself travelled, at various times previous
to 1870, in different parts of Prussia, and also in
Southern Germany, I had everywhere observed with
surprise the large place the army held in the daily life
of the people. There was no town, no village, where
military exercises could not be witnessed ; nor could I
fail to remark the splendid physical condition of the
German soldier, how perfectly he had been trained,
and how admirably prepared he was to face the con-
tingency of war. Indeed, every one who had visited
Germany shortly before the war of 1870, and who was
not blind to the truth of things, received the same
impression as myself ; and I could not refrain from
communicating my views to the Emperor, during some
of the conversations which I had with him.

A few days before the declaration of war, while with
the Emperor in his cabinet, reference having been
made to the Prussian military organisation, I ventured
to remark that, in my opinion, Germany would prove
to be a very formidable antagonist to meet. At the
request of his Majesty, I repeated this opinion to
Marshal Lebceuf, who just at this moment joined us.
The Marshal listened to my words, but seemed to
doubt their truth, and gave me to understand that he
had quite different views with regard to Germany. I
asked him if these views were based upon personal
investigation ; if he was acquainted with those

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countries which seemed of so little importance to
him, and whether he had been himself in Germany.
His answer was that he had been in Germany, but
that he had not seen much of it. I could not help
retorting courteously, that he had possibly made his
studies of Germany in Wiesbaden, Homburg, and
Baden-Baden. While laughing at my remark, he
acknowledged that, during his sojourns in Germany,
he had generally limited his visits to the places men-
tioned, and to the borders of the Rhine. Of this I
was persuaded in advance. Notwithstanding, how-
ever, his insufficient information with respect to the
actual state of things in the enemy’s country, the
French Minister of War was foolhardy enough to
speak to his sovereign of a march to Berlin and the
conquest of Germany, with an assurance which would
not admit of any possible doubt.

After having breakfasted at the Palace of Saint
Cloud that morning with his Majesty, Marshal
Lebceuf, and several other officials of the Empire,
the Marshal and I descended the stairs together and
passed out into the court, where before he entered
his carriage, an incident happened which I shall never
forget, as what the Minister on this occasion said was
so characteristic of the hyperbolic expressions used by
him when speaking of the French army.

In front of the main entrance of the palace there
stood a sentry on guard, who presented arms when
the Marshal approached. The latter, evidently not
noticing the person of the soldier, but carried away
by the sight of the uniform, laid his hand upon the
shoulder of the sentry, and, with his usual military

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The Fra?tco-German JVar

enthusiasm, proudly exclaimed : “ With such soldiers
as this France is invincible ! ”

How ridiculous the exclamation was, and how
difficult it was for me to suppress a smile, one may
judge on learning that the sentry thus honoured by
his general was a young fellow far below the average
height, and apparently destitute of every physical
quality requisite to make a good soldier.

The day, however, was not far off when the over-
confident Marshal had brought home to him the full
weight of his personal responsibility for the disasters
that overwhelmed his ill-conditioned and insufficiently
equipped army. After the war, having retired to his
estate in the country, he disappeared from view only to
reappear in public as a witness before a parliamentary
commission ; and again, for the last time, on the 12th
of January, 1873, at Chislehurst, when standing before
the body of his Emperor, dethroned, and now rigid in
death, he fell upon his knees and, sobbing violently,
cried out in a voice choked with grief, “ Oh, pardon
me, Sire ! ”

With Marshal Lebceuf as Minister of War, and
with the Duke de Gramont as Minister for Foreign
Affairs, the destinies of France were in the keeping of
men altogether incompetent to deal with a dangerous
political situation — one from which no successful issue
could be found without knowledge and the exercise of
wisdom and tact. This was the thought which at
that moment crossed my mind ; and it is my belief
that, in the year 1870, this thought was shared by
many unprejudiced persons.

The Duke de Gramont insisted that an excellent

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The Second French F?npire

opportunity had arrived to avenge France for having
been deceived by Prussia after the battle of Sadowa ;
and the result was that, from the 5th of July until the
15th of that month, there passed no day on which
some blunder was not committed by the Foreign
Office. Telegram after telegram was sent to M.
Benedetti, the French Ambassador at the Prussian
Court, urging him, against his own good judgment, to
make proposals to the Prussian King which, as could
be foreseen, were not likely to be accepted. And the
manner in which the Duke de Gramont, unwittingly
and passionately playing into the hand of Count
Bismarck, who cunningly led the game, finally suc-
ceeded in precipitating the rupture between France
and Germany, is now well known.

I recognise that it is extremely easy to criticise acts
in the light of subsequent events. Had the Duke de
Gramont known before the declaration of war what
everybody knew very soon after it, his policy would
certainly not have been a bellicose one. And it is
just as certain that the particular indiscretions of the
Duke’s policy would have been less remarked, if dis-
covered at all, had the French met with the success
they all confidently expected at the beginning of the
war, or had the honours of battle been nearly equally
divided between the combatants — in a word, had his
Government possessed sufficient military strength to
support him. He fully supposed — and he had reason
to suppose — that the armies of France were not
inferior to those of Prussia, or even of any probable
German combination. To use his own words: “I
resigned myself to the war ; I made it (it was my only

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I he Franco- Germa?i War

mistake) with absolute confidence of victory. For
twenty years I have represented my country abroad ;

I believed in its greatness, in its strength, and in its
military virtues, with almost as much confidence as I
believe in my holy religion. What did I find on
coming to Paris ? A confidence equal to my own.
The men who were the most competent in the Senate
and in the Legislative Assembly believed, all of them,
that France was invincible. And if a few solitary
voices formulated a doubt or a fear, they failed to do
it in season. I do not intend to say by these words
that it was a blind confidence in victory that inspired
at the last hour the resolution of the Government.
No, the war was inevitable ; it was declared at Berlin,
and in the Prussian determination there entered as its
principal element an exact knowledge of the military
forces of France and of the military forces of
Germany.” 1 The confidence of the Duke in the
“invincibility” of France was but the natural con-
sequence of the representations and assurances of
Marshals Niel and Lebceuf, made without an exact
knowledge of the military forces of either France or
Germany.

It is but just, moreover, to remember the excited
state of public feeling in France at this time, that it
had a powerful influence on the Government, and that
the action of the Duke was taken in compliance with
the demands of the representatives of the people, and
expressed the sovereign will of the nation.

Singular as it may seem, the Radical journals from

1 “ Enquete Parlementaire,” tome i. p. ic8.

209

VOL. I.

P

‘ The Second French Empire

the very beginning exceeded, if possible, in the
violence of their language, those attached to the
Government.

The Temps said: “Should a Prussian prince be
placed upon the throne of Spain, we should be
thrown back to the times not of Henry IV., but of
Francis I.”

The Siecle declared that “ France, surrounded on
every side by Prussia, or States subject to its influence,
would be reduced to that isolated situation which led
our ancient monarchy to those long wars with the
House of Austria. The situation would be much
worse than immediately after the treaties of 1815.”

Francis Victor Hugo cried out in the Rappel:
“ The Hohenzollerns have reached such audacity
that they aspire to dominate Europe. It will be for
our time an eternal humiliation that this project has
been, we will not say undertaken, but only conceived.”

And such things were said before the candidature
of Prince Leopold had been officially announced by
the Government.

Stirred by these explosive manifestations of popular
feeling, pushed on by the wild clamour that arose on
every side, the Government, on the 6th of July,
declared before the Chamber its intention to oppose
the placing of the Spanish crown on the head of a
Hohenzollern prince. This announcement of the
Government’s policy was unanimously approved by
the Press.

Perhaps the best evidence of the extraordinary state
of exasperation and passion into which Frenchmen
managed in the course of a few days to mutually and

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7 "he Franco-Gert/tan War

foolishly excite themselves, is to be found in the effect
on the people of the announcement made by M.
Ollivier, on the 12th of July, that Prince Antoine of
Hohenzollern had, on account of the opposition to the
candidature of his son, withdrawn the acceptance
given. Foreshadowing, as this act did, a pacific
solution of a most difficult and dangerous question,
one might presume that it would have been welcomed
by the whole nation with intense satisfaction. On the
contrary, it was received by the people with jeers, and
among the crowds assembled in front of the cafes
along the line of the boulevards, “ La d'epeche du pere
Antoine ” was repeated from one to another as the
joke of the day, or only to provoke a fresh explosion
of rage.

A Government journal having affirmed that “ it is
all we ask ; it is a great victory, which has not cost a
tear, not a drop of blood,” the Presse answered :
“ This victory will be for us the worst of humiliations
and the last of perils.” And the Opinion Nationale
wrote: “Since yesterday, all the journals friendly to
the Government are eagerly repeating that peace has
been made, that the quarrel has come to an end, and
that we ought to rejoice. Nevertheless, no one is
happy; we are sad, disappointed, and anxious.”

The Soir said : “ Were war declared to-day, the
applause would shake the National Assembly. If
war is not declared, it will be something more than
a deception — it will be an immense burst of laughter,
and the Cabinet will be drowned in its own silence.”

The Gaulcis wrote : “ A great nation is stupefied.
Hearts are bursting ; the masses, ten times more in-

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The Second French Empire

telligent than our rulers, know that this ‘ pacific
victory ’ will cost France more blood than pitched
battles.”

The National said : “ It is a peace of ill-omen, the
peace that has been talked about for the last twenty-
four hours.”

And M. £mile de Girardin shouted out, in the
midst of the general uproar : “ If the Prussians refuse
to fight we will force them to cross the Rhine, and to
clear out from the left bank, by clubbing their backs
with the butts of our muskets.”

When, finally, on the 15th of July, the Legislative
Assembly was asked by the Government whether it
should be war or peace, out of 257 votes, 247 were
for war and but ten for peace. And this result, on
being announced, was followed by indescribable mani-
festations of enthusiasm.

Nothing could more clearly indicate the general
infatuation with respect to the issue of a war between
France and Germany than that the very opponents of
the Government in the Legislative chamber expected
nothing less than the final triumph of the French
arms. Indeed, it was to prevent this, and what
seemed to them its inevitable consequence — the con-
solidation of the Empire — that they refused to be
convinced that there was a casus belli; but after
having thrown all the responsibility for the situation
upon the Government, with few exceptions they voted
with the majority for war ; for they, too, were unable
to withstand the passionate appeals that came from
the Press and the people.

So deep was the feeling of indignation at the

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The Franco-German JVar

conduct of the Cabinet of Berlin, so universal the
demand for vengeance, that Lord Lyons, in a des-
patch to Lord Granville, said :

“ It is doubtful if the Government would have
been able to resist the cry raised for the war, even
had it been able to announce a decided diplomatic
success.”

The statement made in the French Legislative
Chamber by the Duke de Gramont, on the 15th of
July, 1870, was virtually a declaration of war; it then
became evident to the world that hostilities between
France and Germany had become unavoidable.

Those who were personally interested in the success
of either the one or the other nation thought, of
course, of little else but the desired victory ; but those
who, being neither Germans nor Frenchmen, were
uninfluenced by patriotic sentiment, or national pre-
possessions and prejudices, at once foresaw the great
sacrifice of life and the fearful suffering which a war
would cause both to the victor and the vanquished,
and recognised how deplorable, from a humane point
of view, this conflict must be. Happily there were
not a few among them who felt it to be a duty to
endeavour to mitigate its sad and painful conse-
quences.

It was for this reason that I determined to render
assistance, in every way in my power, to the sufferers
of both armies, although my heart leaned naturally
towards the French ; for France had been my home
for many years.

I desired also to avail myself of the opportunity

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The Second French Empire

which a war would offer of introducing the improved
methods of transporting and treating the wounded
and taking care of the sick which had been adopted
in my own country during the great war of 1861-65,
and which I had been labouring for many years to
bring to the knowledge of the friends of army medical
reform throughout the world.

In the year 1867, during the Exposition Universelle
in Paris, I exhibited a number of ambulance waggons,
and models of field and post hospitals, together with
a collection of the excellent hospital and sanitary
appliances which, after careful trial, had been adopted
in the United States Army, or been used or approved
by the United States Sanitary Commission. To this
exhibit was awarded one of the eight grand prizes
given at that exhibition. It was the only “Grand
Prix” obtained by an American. Indeed, I found
that my endeavours to make this apparatus known to
European surgeons and army officials, as well as to
introduce in camps the new methods used for the
hospitalisation and treatment of the sick and wounded,
were greatly appreciated in military circles. At that
time, however, no one imagined how soon there would
be an opportunity in Europe to make a practical test
of the value of these new appliances and methods.

The Emperor, after a visit to this exhibit, which
interested him greatly, said to me that he hoped the
day was very far off when they should have occasion
in France to make use of these interesting inventions.

Not only had the time now suddenly arrived for
organising assistance in behalf of the victims of war,
but there were serious reasons for believing that it

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The Franco-German War

would be found necessary, very soon, to provide ac-
commodation for the treatment of the wounded in the
capital itself of the French Empire.

I proposed, therefore, to establish an ambulance in
Paris, where the wounded could be treated, so far as
possible, under conditions similar to those which had
been attended with the best results in the United
States — in short, to give a practical demonstration of
the great advantages to be secured by making exten-
sive use of field-hospitals “under canvas,” instead of
crowding the wounded into churches and public and
private buildings, as has been the custom in all armies
and in all times.

The apparatus which I had shown during the Ex-
position, and which I still had in my possession,
formed a good basis for the establishment of such an
ambulance ; but as there was much wanting to com-
plete it, I undertook to procure more tents and
additional medical and surgical supplies from the
United States.

On the 1 8th of July a meeting of Americans was
held at my office, for the purpose of considering what
we, representing the Paris American colony, and also
to a certain extent our countrymen at home, ought to
do in view of the approaching conflict and its im-
pending and fearful consequences. About twenty-five
persons were present.

At this meeting I stated that while, by contributions
of money, we might furnish the means of relieving
much suffering, and at the same time give expression
to our feelings of humanity and international sym-
pathy, it seemed to me that the most effective way in

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The Second French Empire

which we could use our money and give our assistance,
under the existing circumstances, would be by estab-
lishing, in connection with the French and German
armies, working examples of the American system of
taking care of sick and wounded soldiers ; and I
insisted that such an addition to the sanitary know-
ledge of Europe would be far more valuable than any
mere donation of material aid to either French or
German ambulances, though it were possible to collect
thousands of dollars for that purpose.

All of the gentlemen present at that meeting agreed
with me, and promised me their co-operation in estab-
lishing one or more field-hospitals with the necessary
accessories, to be constructed and managed in accord-
ance with those principles which had received the
sanction of American experience as being most suit-
able in war. A committee was thereupon appointed,
under my presidency, with full power to carry on the
work of “ relieving the wants and sufferings of soldiers
during the war which is now anticipated between
France and Prussia.”

I may remark, en passant , that such an ambulance
was subsequently established in Paris, and that a large
number of wounded were there taken care of during
the siege, in the winter of 1870-71, in a way that
realised in every respect my intentions and my hopes.
It attracted the attention not only of the surgeons
connected with the Service de Santd and the military
hospitals, but of the principal officers of the army
and the members of the Government. The surgical
results reported by those in charge of this ambulance
were surprising. The Press was filled with com-

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The Franco-German War

mendatory notices concerning its organisation and
management. Other ambulances were opened in
Paris by the French Socidtd de Secours aux Blessds,
in which the same system and the same appliances
were closely copied. And the Government of the
Ddfense Nationale, at the end of the siege, as an
expression of its appreciation of the services rendered
by this model American field-hospital, conferred the
decoration of the Legion of Honour on no less than
seventeen Americans, members of the staff employed
in the general direction of the establishment, or in the
service of its several departments, and raised me to
the rank of Commander in the same order.1

While preparations were being made for the execu-
tion of my plan for ameliorating the condition of the
sick and wounded during the impending war, the
political events became from day to day more
important and more exciting.

The Declaration of War created the greatest en-
thusiasm all over France, and the Press was nearly
unanimous in applauding the resolution taken by the
Government and by the Legislative Assembly. Even
the most Radical journals proclaim edtheir approbation
of the decision of the Ministry. Some extracts from
the papers of the Opposition will be sufficient to prove
this assertion.

The Univers said : “ The war in which we are
about to engage is, on the part of France, neither the
work of a party nor an, adventure imposed by the

1 “ History of the American Ambulance,” by Thomas W. Evans.
London : Sampson, Low, Marston, Low & Searle, 1873.

217

)

The Second French Empire

sovereign. The nation undertakes it willingly. It is
not the Emperor Napoleon III. who of his own
accord has declared this war. It is we who have
forced his hand.”

The Libertd said : “For several days we have not
ceased to call for war. We have asked for it in all
our prayers. The future, and the near future, will
tell whether we have been right or wrong. Our soul
and our conscience tell us that, in acting thus and in
demanding war, we have obeyed the duty which,
outside of all other considerations, the dignity and
the honour of France impose upon us.”

The Monde wrote : “ The Chamber was stupefied
when it saw some of its members — let us hasten to
say a feeble minority, however — protest by their votes
against the war, the most just, the most necessary,
and the most opportune. . . . The Keeper of the
Seals expressed the sentiment of France when he
showed astonishment on account of the long debates
on a question which is so clear, and when he called
upon the Chamber to pass from words to acts. Yes,
this mourning which has already commenced, these
tears which are already shed, all this has become a
necessary and unavoidable evil. . . . The Govern-
ment of the Emperor recognised this political truth
when it yielded nobly, admirably, to the inmost desire
of France. If the enemy is ready before we are, then
the useless and scandalous discussions heard last
Friday in the Palais Bourbon have been the cause
of its being in advance.”

The Opinion Nationale said : “ And we Repub-
licans, Democrats, Socialists, citizens of an ideal

218

The Franco-German JVar

fatherland, let us return to our real fatherland, and
let us sustain it in its struggle, without troubling
ourselves about the persons and things that divide us.
A truce at this moment to all intestine disputes ! ”

The Presse had under the heading, “ The National
War,” an article which contained the following words :
“ The cries of war, which resounded yesterday on our
boulevards, will now fill France, and sustain our army
in the heroic struggle to which the insolence of Prussia
provokes us. The resolutions of war which we are
about to take do not emanate from the Government.
The Government has been irresolute ; it allowed itself,
by some of its chiefs, at least, to be drawn into making
absurd concessions. These resolves go out from the
very soul, so to speak, of the country itself. They are
the result of all the irritation of national sentiment
against the system of slavery which threatened to
weigh down Europe,” &c.

Perfectly in accordance with the conclusions and the
language °f the Paris Press was the feeling of the
majority of the nation at that time. “ It is now,” said
M. Emile Ollivier, on receiving Bismarck’s falsified
despatch, “ beyond the power of man to avert this
war.” The question at issue from that moment ceased
to be a diplomatic affair, or a matter that concerned
only the Imperial Government. The two nations,
Prussia and France, had been thrown in collision, and
were immediately in flames. A war of races was now
inevitable. When M. Gambetta, on the morning after
the publication of this famous despatch, said, in the
Chamber of Deputies, “ The purpose of this war is to
settle for ever between the French and Germanic races

219

The Second French Empire

the question of preponderance ,” his words only expressed
what every Frenchman then felt. To the challenge,
“ Qui vive ?” the answer came in a voice of thunder,
“ La France ! ” The French capital was seized with
irrepressible enthusiasm and wild excitement. Every
night, for more than a week, after the resolution of
the Government became known, the boulevards were
filled by the populace, whose numbers were so great
as to make it impossible for carriages to proceed along
the roadway. All the people of Paris seemed to be
possessed with a species of contagious hysterical
insanity. The spectacle presented by these nocturnal
demonstrations was most extraordinary. The foreign
visitors in Paris looked on from the windows of their
hotels, or other stations of vantage, with wonder and
astonishment. They were manifestations not so much
of patriotic feeling, as of rage and an irrepressible
desire for vengeance. The dominant cry, the one
that rose above and drowned all others, was “ A bas
la Prusse ! ”

But while the populace gathered by night in the
streets, marching in columns a thousand strong, and
crying “ A bas la Prusse /” “ A Berlin ! ” other crowds
of people assembled during the day before the windows
of the money-changers, in order to read the last
quotations. The Bourse, and the square in which it
stands, could not hold the enormous number of persons
who wished to ascertain as quickly as possible the
value of stocks and bonds ; from the Rue Vivienne as
far as the Boulevard des Capucines, the streets pre-
sented that peculiar spectacle, a swaying, surging mass
of gesticulating, vociferating humanity, which in times

The Franco -German IV ar

of peace was only to be seen on the floor, or in the
purlieus of the Stock Exchange. Nor was' the
depreciation in value limited to French securities.
Stocks and bonds of nearly every description were
affected. British consols and United States bonds fell
off almost as many points as French rentes. The
incalculable consequences of the conflict that was
imminent between the two greatest Powers on the
Continent of Europe unsettled prices everywhere, and
disturbed profoundly the money-markets of the world.

Everywhere were loud voices, wild exclamations,
and dense crowds. The omnibuses could not pursue
their usual route along the boulevards, but had to take
parallel streets, and even there they could proceed only
with difficulty.

The Prefect of Police, after the declaration of war,
authorised the singing of the “ Marseillaise,” at the
cafd-concerts, and liberal use was made of this
permission.

Even those places where, in times of peace, great
ceremony was observed, and , where a breach of
etiquette would have been regarded as intolerable,
became, from the 15th of July, scenes of the most
extraordinary manifestations of patriotic feeling.

At the Grand Opera one evening, after the “ Mar-
seillaise ” had been wildly applauded, some persons
gave expression to their desire to hear Alfred de
Musset’s long-forgotten “ Rhin Allemand.”

This desire was seconded at once by the whole
audience present in the theatre, and loud calls for the
“Rhin Allemand” were heard on every side. The
Rtgisseur appeared on the stage and announced that

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The Secojid French Empire

none of the opera-singers knew the words. This,
however, did not satisfy the excited crowd ; and in
order to quiet the tumult, which had become unbear-
able, M. Faure finally agreed to sing the “ Rhin
Allemand ” from the notes. After that evening, this
song, as well as the “ Marseillaise,” was sung every
night at the Opera until the threatening prospect of a
siege put an end to the amusement.

Not only the capital, but every city, every village,
of France, was seized with military enthusiasm ; and
there were but few Frenchmen that were not carried
away by the popular excitement. Among these was
the Emperor.

“ Napoleon III.,” says a contemporary writer, “ had
no part in the general intoxication ; his enthusiasm
was that of a soul inspired by great subjects. He
did not know that enthusiasm of the imagination
which darkens reason and gives birth to illusions.”

The Emperor’s heart was full of anxiety, because
he had seriously studied the chances of the war. He
foresaw the possible consequences to himself, his
dynasty, and his country ; but he believed in his
destiny and had confidence in his army. And if he
was mistaken with respect to its ability to promptly
and successfully execute the plan of campaign that
had been agreed upon, it was largely on account of
the incorrect information which he received from his
ministers. No monarch, no head of any great insti-
tution, can make sure of everything by immediate
personal investigation ; he must study carefully the
reports of those whom he has charged with the ex-

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The Franco-German IVar

amination of the details of his affairs, and do his
best to learn their opinion. Napoleon III. did this,
and even more.

The Emperor seldom relied exclusively upon the
opinion of his ministers, but made himself well ac-
quainted even with many of the details of the
administration, and especially with those concerning
the military affairs of the country. He was con-
tinually instituting inquiries with regard to the condi-
tion and serviceableness of the war materiel, and
concerning the different kinds of arms in use ; and
not only spent a great deal of his time in improving
the artillery, which in modern wars has become of
such great importance, but he also tried to obtain
a correct knowledge of the general state and efficiency
of the army.

Thus, for instance, in the year 1867, after the
trouble with Prussia with respect to the Duchy of
Luxembourg, he said to General Lebrun, “We have
escaped. But from this moment we ought to think of
the future, and in peace to be always ready for war ;
so that, should an event occur similar to the one we
have just had to deal with, we may not be found
living in a fool’s paradise, and absolutely unprepared
to defend ourselves.”

And thereupon, in order to obtain a clear insight
into the existing military organisation as a working
mechanism, he himself thoroughly investigated it, and
gave particular consideration to plans for the forma-
tion of independent armies on French territory ; the
object being to obtain thereby an organisation of the
national forces more mobile and effective, and more

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The Second French Empire

in accordance with the requirements of modern war.
The results of his studies were subsequently (in 1867)
published in a memoir which he submitted to Marshal
Niel, then Minister of War.

Indeed, the army was always a special object of
interest and solicitude with the Emperor, and nothing
that might in any way contribute to the health,
comfort, and efficiency of the French soldier ever
failed, when brought to his notice, to find in him
an earnest advocate.

I have already spoken of the interest taken by the
Emperor in the War of the Rebellion of 1861-65, and
of my efforts to keep him well informed with respect
to its progress. But it was not information relating
only to questions of strategy and tactics that he
wished to have ; he wanted to know all about the
organisation of the commissariat and the quarter-
master’s department, and particularly about the kind
of food and the quality of the clothing issued to the
soldiers. At his request, I sent to the United States
for samples of the clothing, the daily rations, and other
supplies furnished by the Federal Government to the
army while in active service. Many of these articles
— such as desiccated vegetables, desiccated eggs, con-
densed milk, and so forth — were either American
inventions or were used in the United States army
on a scale vastly greater than had ever before been
known. All these things interested his Majesty very
much ; and I remember now how, after examining
with considerable care a specimen of the famous
blue overcoats worn by the Federal soldiers, he
exclaimed, “ C'est tres bien." In making his inquiries,

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The Franco-Germa?i War

no new facts seemed to be too trivial to be dis-
regarded ; and he liked to see the facts that he
believed to be important stated in writing, if not
in print. And while informing himself about the
instruments made use of, or the means taken to
increase the efficiency of the army in my own
country, I observed that he always appreciated these
things in proportion to the extent to which he thought
they might, perhaps, be adopted or employed with
advantage in the French army.

The reports which the military authorities gave to
the Emperor just before the war began, in July, 1870,
were such that he was forced to believe France was
sufficiently prepared to enter into a war with Germany
without incurring any extraordinary hazards.

It is true that he was aware there existed a con-
siderable difference in the numerical strength of the
armies of the two countries ; but this difference was, as
the best French strategists maintained, not sufficient
to prejudice the success of the French, provided the
regiments could be mobilised and concentrated quickly
enough to make an immediate attack upon the
enemy.

General Changarnier gave his opinion on the
subject of numerical inferiority in war in the following
words : “ Do not let us try to make the number of
our soldiers equal to that of our eventual adversaries ;
even by exhausting all our resources we should not
succeed in doing so, but this should give us no
anxiety. It is difficult for 3,000 men to fight suc-
cessfully against 5,000 ; but it is not so difficult for
60,000 to fight against 100,000. The more the

vol. 1. 225 Q

Fhe Second French Empire

numbers themselves increase, the less dangerous is
a numerical inferiority.” 1

This opinion was shared by most of the French
military authorities, among others by the Prince de
Joinvillc, by Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, and by
Marshal Leboeuf. But, of course, the conditio sine
qua non was that Marshal Leboeuf’s statement in
regard to the perfect readiness of the army to move
should be correct. And this, as will be seen later,
was not the case.

That the Emperor well understood the seriousness
of the war which he was forced to undertake may be
seen from the significant reply which he made to the
long and optimistic address pronounced by M. Rouher
in presence of the Senate, which on the 16th of July
had assembled at Saint Cloud to express to his
Majesty their patriotic sentiments. “ We begin,”
said the Emperor, “a serious struggle. France will
need the assistance of all her children.”

These words of the Emperor should not be for-
gotten now, after the apprehensions of Europe have
been verified. An impartial mind must recognise the
fact that the defeat of the French in the war of 1870
was not due to any neglect on the part of Napo-
leon III., but that, on the contrary, the Emperor did
all in his power to insure the victory to France. Had
the people, on their part, not deserted him, after
forcing him to declare war, and had they still main-
tained the character attributed to them by Caesar,
when he wrote, “ Nefas more Gallorjfm est, etiam in
extrema fortund deserere patronos." (It is considered

1 “ La Verite sur la Campagne de 1870.” Giraudeau, p. 101.

226

The Frattco-German War

shameful by the Gauls to desert their leaders, even
in the greatest adversity), it is but fair to suppose that
the issue of this war might have been very different
from what it was. The strength of Germany lay in its
unity, and in the loyalty of its inhabitants ; the weak-
ness of France in its want of unity, and in the dis-
loyalty of its citizens at a moment when all party
interests and dynastic considerations should have
been forgotten. Interior dissensions encourage and
strengthen the common enemy ; while even with the
feeblest government success is possible in case the
people unite all their efforts. In the discord which
reigned in France in the year 1870, and in the action
of certain men who had been, and were then, willing
to sacrifice the army, the country, everything, to
gratify their political hatred or satisfy their personal
ambition, the direct cause of the defeat of the French
is to be recognised. France was in need of the assist-
ance of all her children.

The French nation had wished for war, and now
the preparations for the contest began. On the
1 6th of July, at nine o’clock in the morning, a bill
containing the following announcement was posted
on the walls of the Eastern Railway Station :

“From this date (July 16th) the passenger service
upon the lines of the Eastern Railway will be par-
tially suspended. Travellers are requested to apply
to the stationmaster for information regarding the
departure of trains.”

This proved that the advance of the army to the
frontier had been decided upon.

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The Second French Empire

On the same day, towards noon, thousands of
people hurried to this station in order to witness the
departure of the troops. At three o’clock the Ninety-
fifth Regiment of the Line, which had been stationed
at Fort de Bicetre, arrived. It was accompanied by
a large crowd singing the “ Marseillaise ” and crying
“ Vive 1' Arm'ee .” The number of spectators assem-
bled between the entrance-gates and the station was
so large that the soldiers could only proceed with
difficulty.

The Eighty-first Regiment arrived at nearly the
same time, led by a band playing the “ Marseillaise.”

The appearance of these soldiers was far from re-
assuring ; and although, under the circumstances, the
cries of “ A Berlin ! ” and the noisy anticipations of
victory were pardonable, and more or less confusion
was to be expected, the unprejudiced witness could
not fail to be struck with the want of discipline,
solidity, and seriousness which was plainly visible in
their ranks.

A still greater disappointment was produced by the
appearance of the Gardes Mobiles. No real patriot
who looked at these young men, some of whom
appeared on the street in a partially intoxicated state,
accompanied by women in the same condition, could
help having grave apprehensions as to the success of
the war ; and many a face was saddened when com-
panies of these ill-conditioned levies were seen to fill
the trains that were leaving Paris.

Darker and darker grew the horizon, and it became
plainer from day to day that the tempest of war was
approaching.

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The Fra?ico-German JVar

On the 26th of July the Emperor Napoleon III.
began to make his arrangements to leave the Palace
of Saint Cloud for the purpose of assuming the com-
mand of the army ; perhaps the most important of
these was the appointment of the Empress, by special
decree, Regent of the Empire.

For seventeen years the sovereign who was thus
called to represent her country, in the midst of the
vicissitudes of a great struggle, had shared the pros-
perous government of the Emperor ; she had adorned
the most splendid court in Europe by her intelligence,
the brilliancy of her wit, by her grace and her beauty ;
and her ardent patriotism, and ever-present sympathy
for the poor and suffering, justly entitled her to the
confidence and love of the people.

Her noble character well qualified her for the posi-
tion she was now to hold, and her knowledge of the
affairs of government which she had obtained through
the interest she had always taken in them, and by means
of the instruction which she had received, rendered her
perfectly competent to govern the country she loved
so dearly. She had often taken part in the Cabinet
councils during the years of peace, and the Emperor
had explained to her the mechanism and initiated her
into all the mysteries of State affairs ; for he wished
that the mother of the Prince Imperial should be able,
in case of necessity, to educate her son for the serious
tasks which the future might devolve upon him.

That her Majesty fully comprehended her re-
sponsibility and well understood her duty, must be
acknowledged by all who have studied the history
of the Regency ; and few would blame her for

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The Second French Empire

anything that happened during the short period of
her administration, were they to consider under
what difficulties it was entered upon and conducted.
Even the most excellent qualifications of the Regent
could not remedy the organic defect in the Govern-
ment, which consisted in the restriction of her power
at a time when it should have been concentrated in
her person alone, and when she should have been
subject to no other will or opinion than that of the
Emperor and his ministers.

In the year 1859 she was able, as Regent, to dis-
charge her duties easily and successfully, for she was
free; while in the year 1870, under the “liberal
Empire,” her initiative was destroyed, and she was
unable to act with any freedom on account of the
interference of the Legislative Assembly, which,
instead of simply maintaining its place as a co-
ordinate power, tried to usurp the functions of the
Executive, and thus hampered all her movements.
The most perfect, the most democratic Republics
that have ever existed, have concentrated authority
in times of war. The Roman Commonwealth, for
instance, placed the supreme power, in times of
danger, in the hands of one man, a Dictator, while
the French nation, although ruled by a constitutional
monarch, tried to limit the power of the Regent by
establishing an oligarchy that interfered directly and
constantly with her duties. If these facts are con-
sidered, the results will not be wondered at.

The Emperor decided to leave Saint Cloud on the
28th of July, and I went to the palace on the morning

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The Franco-Germa?i War

of that day to bid him farewell. Clouds covered the
sky, and there was a heaviness in the atmosphere
that seemed to forbode evil. The evening before, the
Emperor, the Empress, and the Prince Imperial, as
I learned, had partaken of the Communion at the
hands of Monseigneur Darboy, the venerable Arch-
bishop of Paris, who was assassinated by the Com-
munists a few months later. Soon after I arrived,
the Emperor, with the Empress and Prince Imperial,
came out of the apartments of her Majesty into the
great salon, where those who had come to bid him
goodbye had gathered together. With a kind word
or a pressure of the hand for every one, he passed on.
As he took leave of those whom he knew intimately,
and of his ministers and the members of the Imperial
household who were present on this occasion, it
seemed to me that there was an unusual tone of
tenderness in his voice, and an expression of sadness
on his face such as I had never seen before. To
some one saying, “ In a fortnight your Majesty will
be in Berlin,” he replied solemnly, “ No, don’t expect
that, even if we are successful.” He doubtless still
believed in his destiny ; but certainly no longer with
assurance in his good fortune. Although apparently
perfectly calm, it was evident that he was profoundly
agitated. I noticed that he was smoking a cigar,
something quite unusual for him to do.

About ten o’clock he got into his carriage to go to
the station at the extremity of the park, where he was
to take the train ; the Empress being at his side,
nervous, striving to look cheerful, and holding in her
hand the hand of the young Prince, whose eyes had

231

The Second French Empire

filled with tears at the thought of leaving his mother.
The carriage started immediately — the Emperor, after
bowing to the people assembled in the Court, looking
straight ahead, but seemingly observing nothing.

Together with many others I went to the station,
where for the last time the Emperor received us,
bidding goodbye to those with whom he had not
before spoken, until the signal was given for the train
to leave. Then, turning to the Empress, he embraced
her tenderly, and after stepping into the carriage re-
served for him and his suite, he looked back and waved
his hand toward her ; while we stood watching, in
silence and with deep feeling, this really touching
separation of the Imperial family.

As the train moved slowly away all heads were
uncovered, and the cry of “ Vive i Empereur ! ” rang
out, weak in volume but sharp and clear. In a few
moments the Emperor and the Prince Imperial were
out of sight, and the Empress, struggling to suppress
her sobs, was on her way back to the palace, where
she had spent so many happy days, where the first
weeks of her married life had been passed, and which,
beautiful and enduring as it then seemed to be, as if
having served the purpose for which it had been
created, and associated in some mysterious way
with the fortune of the Imperial Government — for
here it was, in 1804, that the Empire of Napoleon was
proclaimed — a few months later was only a shapeless
heap of twisted iron and calcined marble.

I could not fail to be profoundly impressed with the
difference there was between the morale of those con-
nected with this departure, whether as principals or

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The Franco-German JVar

witnesses, and that exhibited on the occasion of the
Emperor’s leaving Paris in 1859, to join the army in
Italy. Then, the streets filled with immense crowds,
flags everywhere, the Emperor left the Tuileries in a
carriage driven by postilions, surrounded by the great
dignitaries of the Court, officers in brilliant uniforms,
and the cuirassiers of the Guard, and was received all
along the route to the Lyons Railway Station with the
wildest enthusiasm, he himself saluting the vast assem-
blage, calm and confident. The popular exaltation
carried with it a presage and an assurance of victory
that gave to that departure the appearance of a
triumph. Now, attended by a few members of his
Government, his personal staff, and his official house-
hold, avoiding the capital, silently, almost secretly, the
Emperor goes off to meet his destiny.

In these later years many sayings of the Emperor
have been reported revealing his sense of the very
doubtful result of the war ; but the most conspicuous
proof of his full appreciation of the gravity of the
situation was the care with which, when leaving for
the headquarters of his army, he avoided the demon-
strations of enthusiasm with which he would have
been greeted by the people of Paris had he appeared
among them, and to which in his own soul he could
find no response.

As I returned to Paris, mingled thoughts of fear and
hope crossed my mind, but the feeling of anxiety pre-
vailed. To an unprejudiced person the future of
France could look but dark and uncertain, and I was
quite prepared to hear that the French army had met
with a repulse at the frontier. The campaign, how-

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The Second French Empire

ever, proved to be far more disastrous than I had
anticipated or even thought possible.

On the evening of the 28th of July the Emperor,
accompanied by the Prince Imperial, arrived at Metz
for the purpose of taking the chief command. He had
left Saint Cloud, as we have said, troubled with doubts
and with sad misgivings. The chief cause of his un-
easiness was that he knew his army might have to
contend with an enemy superior in numbers, and
reported by his own most highly credited agents to
possess great military qualities ; but he knew also that
he had done all he could to make the armies of France
efficient, and that, if his country had to suffer on
account of not having enough men under arms, or
from insufficient preparation for this emergency, the
blame could not justly be placed upon him.

234

CHAPTER VII

THE FRENCH ARMY SEDAN AND BISMARCK

The efforts of the Emperor to increase the strength of the army —
His proposals are denounced by the Opposition — Favre —
Thiers — Magnin — Jules Simon — State of the army when war
was declared — On arriving at Metz the Emperor finds nothing
ready — Misled by incorrect reports — A fair example — The
situation becomes more and more difficult — A change of
commanders — Sedan— A vivid account of the battle written
by the Emperor — Further resistance impossible — The flag of
truce — The letter of the Emperor to the King of Prussia —
De Wimpfen meets Von Moltke and Bismarck at Donchery —
Interview between the Emperor and Bismarck described by
Bismarck in a letter to the King of Prussia — Two letters —
“Conneau.”

NAPOLEON III., during the years immediately
preceding the war of 1870, had earnestly ad-
vised reorganising the army, so that France might be
strong enough to preserve peace, or to protect itself
against any of the neighbouring countries in case of
invasion ; but the nation did not listen to him.

On the 1 2th of December, 1866, at his suggestion,
a proposition was laid before the Legislative Assembly
asking that the numerical strength of the army might
be raised, when on a war footing, to 1,200,000 men —
the number at the disposal of the King of Prussia.
This was to be brought about with a very slight

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The Second French Empire

increase in the charge on the Treasury, by changing
the system of recruitment and by means of a re-
organisation of the military service that would place
about 500,000 men of the National Guard at the
disposal of the Government, to be called into any
field of military operations in the event of war. The
proposition was denounced and strongly fought against
by the leaders of the Opposition in the Legislative
Assembly. It furnished a splendid subject for the
phrase-makers. “What,” said Jules Favre, “after
reigning fifteen years, after the public debt has been
increased by 8,000,000,000 francs, after we have been
forced into the wars that you know about — it is to be
decreed that the whole population is to be delivered
over to the drill-sergeant, and that France, instead
of being a workshop, shall henceforth be only a
barrack ! ” And M. Gamier Pages, while arguing
to show that liberty had more to gain by defeats
than by victories, declared that the boundaries of
States were no longer fixed by mountains, or rivers,
or by armies, and loftily proclaimed that “/ a vraie
frontiere cest le patriotisme .”

M. Thiers spoke as follows :

“ Gentlemen, you forget one thing. It may be said
that there is only the National Guard to defend the
country, and that, unless you create the Garde Mobile ,
France is open to the enemy. I must, however, ask
you of what benefit to us is our admirable active
army, which costs from 400,000,000 to 500,000,000
francs annually ? Or, do you suppose that it will
submit to the first shock, and that France will be
immediately without defence ? Some days ago it

236

The French Ar?ny

was mentioned in this place that several Powers
could oppose to you 1,200,000, 1,300,000, and even
1,500,000 men under arms. I do not say that these
figures have influenced your votes ; but, after all,
these figures, when quoted, made upon you a very
vivid impression. Well, then, these figures are
altogether chimerical. According to the statement
of the Honourable Minister, Prussia is able to oppose
to us 1,300,000 men. But I must ask him, When
has any one seen these formidable numbers ? How
many men did Prussia send into Bohemia in 1866?
About 300,000. . . . Therefore, gentlemen, we must
not give the least credit to these fanciful figures.
They are fabulous, and have never had any exist-
ence in fact. Let us, then, be assured our army
will be sufficient to stop the enemy. Behind it, the
country will have time to breathe quietly and to
organise its reserves. Will you not have always
two or three months — that is to say, more time than
you need — for the organisation of the Garde Mobile
and for the utilisation of the popular zeal ? Besides,
there will be volunteers in abundance. You have far
too little confidence in your country.” 1

1 But on the 12th of August, 1870, after hearing of the first
reverses that befell the French army, this adroit politician, with
characteristic versatility, declared in the Chamber of Deputies he
had never ceased to warn the Government that its preparations for
a war with Germany were altogether insufficient : “ There is not
a minister, he affirmed, “who has not heard me say we were not
ready ; the country has been deceived.” And this was said not-
withstanding the fact that on the 30th of June — only sixteen days
before the declaration of war — he had said in that same Chamber
(I quote from the official journal) : “ If we are at peace, if we are

237

The Second French Rmpire

These were the words of M. Thiers when this pro-
position to increase the army and its efficiency was
brought before the Legislative Assembly ; and the
speeches of his colleagues of the Opposition were
to the same effect ; and as they met with considerable
support on the side of the majority, the consequence

threatened by no one, it is because we are known to be ready for
war. This is as clear as the light — yes, evident to all those who
know the situation in Europe. Do you know why peace has
been preserved ? It is because you are strong.”

M. Thiers was always in opposition when not in power ; he had
no political convictions of any kind. He was true to but one party,
that of Adolphe Thiers. In 1848, when Louis Napoleon was a
candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, the Revue Comique
asked M. Thiers, “ Why do you support Prince Louis ? ” and
answered the question for him as follows : “ Because his incapacity
is notorious ; because he is impossible ; because it is the Revolu-
tion over again ; with Prince Louis the struggle will recommence ;
and with the contest there will be all the uncertainties, but also
all the hopes of the future l” No analysis of a character could
be more exact. M. Thiers’ love of leadership was such that he was
never known to be, in American political parlance, “ on the fence ”
on any subject but once in his life. When M. de Belcastel one
day asked him, “ What are your relations with God ? ” he replied :
“On that matter I think we shall be able to understand each
other, for I am neither of the Court nor of the Opposition.”
Many, perhaps most, Frenchmen are disposed to forgive and
forget a great deal in M. Thiers’ political life, not so much on
account of his wonderful intellectual alertness, his marvellous gifts
of speech, his wit, his diplomatic skill, the ingenious versatility
with which he was able to adjust himself to every political situation,
as in remembrance of his undaunted efforts, in the winter of 1870-
71, to obtain the intervention of Europe in behalf of France, and
the rapidity with which he subsequently, when “ Chef du pouvoirf
freed his country from the presence of the hated enemy.

The fact nevertheless remains, that on this “ liberator of the terri-
tory ” will for ever rest a very large part of the responsibility of having

238

The Fre?ich Army

was that the Emperor’s plan for reorganising the army
could not be carried out.1

Nearly two years later, during the session of 1868,
this measure was resubmitted to the Chamber of
Deputies, but only after it had been modified. The
Emperor now proposed that France should have at
least 750,000 men under arms, including the reserves ;

pushed France into an abyss, from which it could only be extricated
after its dismemberment, and liberated at the cost of a prodigious
pecuniary ransom.

The Hon. Andrew D. White, our late distinguished Minister and
Ambassador to St. Petersburg and Berlin, an acute and yet most
unprejudiced observer of men and events, in his “ Autobiography ”
recently published, refers to M. Thiers in a paragraph which I am
quite sure foreshadows the judgment of Frenchmen themselves, when
with the lapse of time they shall become able to write and to read
their own history without passion and without prejudice.

Mr. White says : “ I have studied M. Thiers as a historian, observed
him as a statesman, and conversed with him as a social being, and he
has always seemed, and still seems to me, the most noxious of all the
great architects of ruin that France produced during the last half of
the nineteenth century; and that is saying much. His policy was to
discredit every Government which he found existing, in order that its
ruins might serve him as a pedestal ; and while he certainly showed
great skill in mitigating the calamities which he did so much to cause,
his whole career was damning. ... In his writings, speeches, and
intrigues he aided in upsetting not only the rule of the Bourbons in
1830, but the rule of Louis Philippe in 1848, the Second Republic
in 1851, the Second Empire in 1870, and, had he lived, he would
have doubtless done the same by the present Republic.”

It would be hard indeed for any judicious, unbiassed person,
familiar with recent French history, to come to any other conclusion.
And the final judgment of the world is almost sure to be that if there
was any man living in France at any time during the nineteenth
century to whom the epithet of “ I'hovime ?iefaste ” could be justly
applied by his countrymen, that man was Adolphe Thiers.

1 See Appendix VI.

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The Second French Empire

but even this moderate demand met with the most
violent opposition.

M. Magnin (afterward one of the members of the
Government of the 4th of September, and one of
those Deputies who voted for the war) said in the
Chamber :

“You remember what an outburst of discontent was
heard all over France at the announcement of the
former project for increasing the army. Nobody
would or could accept it. It was submitted to the
State Council, which examined it in the Session of
March ; and, later, it was placed again before us, with
an introduction explaining its motives, and with its
most obnoxious points modified.

“ In fact, the project in its new form reduced the
time of service. There were still, however, 160,000
men required. In the active army the service was to
be of five years’ and in the reserve of seven years’
duration. Those who did not serve in the active army
were to serve four years in the Garde Mobile. . . .
This still created a very violent and very ardent oppo-
sition, which was shared partially by your Commission,
and I offer you my congratulations thereupon.

“ The public did not look more favourably upon the
new project than upon the preceding one ; and the
Emperor now announces to you that other modifi-
cations will be made. ‘It is,’ he says, ‘ not a question
of militarising the country, but of modifying certain
parts of the law of 1832.’”

M. Jules Simon (a member of the Government of
the 4th of September, and who also voted for the war)
said :

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The French Army

“ Gentlemen, the chief aim of the project first pre-
sented was to ask for an army of 1,200,000 men.

. . . I insist, before going farther, upon drawing your
attention to the enormous figure — 1,200,000! . . .

“ After considerable changes which are due to public
opinion, to the zeal of the members of the Commission,
and the concessions made by the Government, we have
finally come to the present project. But it is plainly
to be seen that you still wish to have an army of
800,000 men, and in order to obtain this, you wish to
create the Garde Mobile. The law which proposes
this is not only a hard law, but an unmerciful one ; one
that weighs heavily upon those who are called to
serve, and at the same time upon the whole popula-
tion ; because quartering the Gardes Mobiles in the
houses of the inhabitants will be adding a new tax to
those which already oppress us. In the end, the
political consequences of the new system will be still
more disastrous than the material consequences ; and
the law proposed is especially bad, because it will
increase the almightiness of the Emperor. . . .

“ The important point is not the number of soldiers,
but the cause they have to defend. If the Austrians
were beaten at Sadowa, it was because they did not
wish to fight for the House of Hapsburg against the
German fatherland. Yes, gentlemen, there is only one
cause which makes an army invincible, and that is
liberty.”

Strangely enough, many of the very men who were
systematically opposing any increase of the army were
most violent in their denunciations of the pacific policy
of the Imperial Government with respect to Germany.

vol. 1. 241 r

The Second French Rmpire

“ The soldier is a white slave,” said M. Emile de
Girardin one day ; and the next day he claimed the
Rhine as the rightful frontier of France, and, working
himself into a frenzy over his theme, finally shrieked
out : “If, to obtain it, it is necessary to give Europe a
shower-bath of blood, let the shower-bath be given to
Europe.”

The proposed law in its modified form was at last
adopted in 1868. By this enactment the regular army
was increased to a total strength of 744,568 men,
including the reserves (329,318); and provision was
made for the mobilisation of 500,000 National Guards
for the defence of the fortresses. But the Opposition
voted against it ; and among those who opposed
it were Messrs. Bethmont, Magnin, Glais-Bizoin,
Dorian, Jules Favre, Carnot, Thiers, Jules Simon,
Ernest Picard, Garnier-Pages, and Pelletan. Had
the will of these gentlemen been accomplished, the
army would have been much smaller than it was when
the war began.

But while the army was thus officially increased in
number, its effective strength was, at the same time,
actually reduced by the extension given to a per-
nicious system of furloughs subservient to certain
political interests, and by virtue of which large num-
bers of soldiers were permitted to be absent from the
ranks. On the 20th of March, 1868, Marshal Niel
reported to the Senate that of the regular troops in
the second year of their service, twenty-five per cent,
were absent on a six months leave ; that of those in
the third year of their service, a third were absent ;
that of the fourth year’s men, two-fifths were absent ;

242

The French Army

and that of the troops in the last year of their service,
one-half were absent on a six months furlough.

When war was declared in July, 1870, more than
a third of the French regular army was absent on
leave. And, more extraordinary still, it was dis-
covered that the cavalry horses had been “ fur-
loughed ” to the farmers in about the same proportion.
And these furloughs had been granted notwithstand-
ing the repeated warnings the Emperor had given of
the consequences that might follow.

If, therefore, France had too small an army at the
beginning of the war of 1870 (415,000 men, not
counting the reserves), and the rapid mobilisation of
this scattered army was impossible, it was certainly
not the fault of the Emperor. On the contrary, the
responsibility belongs to those politicians who pre-
vented him from doing what he earnestly wished
to do.

Nor does the responsibility rest entirely or even
principally upon the political opponents of the
Government. The Deputies at this time were nearly
all Imperialists, nominally at least ; and if the Em-
peror’s proposition to reorganise and strengthen the
army failed to obtain the support of the majority in
the Legislative Chamber, it was because some of
these Deputies honestly believed it to be unnecessary
and inexpedient, and others were more anxious about
their own personal popularity with their tax-paying
constituents than mindful of the interests of the
Government and of the nation.1

1 These statements are true ; but they fail to set forth the whole
truth. Many of the friends of the Government regarded the project

243

7 "he Second French Empire

The time now had suddenly come when many
patriots recognised the serious mistakes that had
been made, and deeply regretted that the number
of French soldiers was not greater. But the nation
desired war ; and the Emperor considered that he had
no right, even had he the power, to refuse to submit
to the national will. His only desire, as the represen-
tative of this will, was to do the best that could be
done under the circumstances. These made a rapid
movement forward imperative, if the campaign was
to succeed. His plan was to attack the German
troops on German soil, to cross the Rhine at Maxau,
and to separate North Germany from South Ger-
many. But the passage of the Rhine had to be
effected before the enemy could concentrate near that
river, otherwise the execution of his plan would be
impossible without risking great losses. All, there-
fore, depended upon the precision and quickness of

as one that endangered the stability of the Empire. A majority
even of the Members of the Emperor’s Cabinet considered it to be
politically inexpedient, whatever may have been their opinion of its
desirability from a military point of view. They knew that the
people generally were strongly opposed to increasing the number of
men liable to be called into active military service ; and, especially,
to any law that diminished the number of exempts. So very
unpopular was this measure that after it was finally passed, with
numerous amendments and ameliorations, Gressier, the reporter,
failed to be re-elected in his Canton. “ I like you very much,” said
an old farmer to him, “ but I shall not vote for you — you have
taken my son from me and made him a soldier.” The Imperial
Government could count upon the solid vote of the “ rustics ” — but
only on certain conditions. “ Un jour? said M. Jules Ferry,
“ les masses agricoles montrerent qu'elles pouvaient vouloir.” The
Emperor knew this, but he wished also to do his duty.

244

The Fre?ich Army

the mobilisation of the French army, and upon its
readiness for action.

How fearful, then, must have been the disappoint-
ment of his Majesty when, on his arrival at Metz, he
found that nothing was in readiness, and that the re-
ports which he had received at different times from his
chief military officers were incorrect and misleading.

In the year 1868 Marshal Niel sent a report to the
Emperor, in which he said that all the orders had
been prepared for a very speedy calling out of the
soldiers of the reserve, and that, thanks to the mea-
sures taken, the several corps which were to form the
active army could be made up ready for service, in
case of an emergency, within a space of nine, or, at
the most, of fourteen days. On the 9th of April, 1869,
Marshal Niel, speaking in the Senate on the state of
the army, made use of words still more assuring.
He then said : “Our situation is such at the present
time that, if we will maintain it, we can never be
surprised.” And two or three days later, in the same
place, he declared: “To-day, whether we are in
peace or at war is not of the slightest consequence
to the Minister of War ; he is always ready.” Mar-
shal Lebceuf, who was the successor of Marshal Niel
as Minister of War, confirmed these statements, and
also insisted that the armies would be ready to act
within a fortnight, should they be called out.

On the 6th of July, 1870, Marshal Leboeuf sub-
mitted to the Emperor a schedule of the military
forces at the disposition of the Government. Accord-
ing to this statement there should have been 350,000

245

The Second French Empire

regular troops on the frontier within fourteen days
after the calling out of the reserves, and 100,000
Gardes Mobiles besides. This was the force to
begin with ; but before a month should have elapsed,
400,000 troops were also to be ready for action. To
this force, the Marshal said, Prussia would only be
able to oppose 390,000 men, and that, counting the
soldiers of the Southern States, the German army
would have a strength of only 420,000 men. (In fact,
the three German armies of invasion numbered at first
but 338,000 men.) Relying upon the correctness of
these reports, the Emperor might have had good
reason to hope for success, especially as his plan was
to attack the Prussians before the armies of the
Southern German States could be united with them.
When, however, he arrived at his headquarters three
weeks later, he found, to his great dismay, that the
eight French army corps sent to the frontier numbered
only 220,000 men.

This state of things was very serious ; but the most
alarming discovery made was the fact that important
instructions which the Emperor had given with regard
to the distribution of military stores of every sort,
even to the baggage train, had not been obeyed,
although Marshal Niel had reported to the contrary.
As the result of this neglect, the mobilisation was
paralysed at the most critical moment.

The letters sent by the Emperor to the Empress at
this time were most discouraging. “ He was,” she
said, “ navrd. Nothing was ready; the confusion
indescribable ; the plan of the campaign must be
abandoned on account of the inevitable delay.”

246

The French Ar?ny

The details of military organisation are not very
interesting to the general reader, but I think I may
count upon his indulgence, if I give the facts in a
single case that is a fair example of many others, and
which will show plainly what reason the Emperor had
for believing his army ready for action in July, 1870 ;
as also that the non-execution of his orders was among
the causes of the defeat of the French.

In the year 1868 the Emperor inquired at his War
Department how long it would take to have in readi-
ness the Government waggons that were stored at
Vernon. The answer was that this operation would
take several months. Surprised to hear such a reply,
he immediately gave orders to have the waggons dis-
tributed over different parts of the country ; and the
Minister of War reported shortly afterward, in the
following words, that these orders were in the way of
execution.

“The concentration of all the baggage waggons at
Vernon is dangerous in case of a war, as the length of
time necessary for making ready so much materiel
(6,700 waggons, 10,000 sets of harness, &c.) might
interfere very much with a quick mobilisation of the
army. To remedy this difficulty, the following
measures have been adopted :

“ Barracks are to be erected in the Parc de
Chateauroux for about 1,200 waggons, so that the
squadron of the baggage train, which is quartered
there, will find its waggons handy, without being-
obliged to send to Vernon for them.

“ Use is to be made of the circumstance that a
detachment of artillery and engineers is quartered at

247

The Second French Empire

Satory, by placing there all those waggons which have
to be furnished to the staffs and to the different corps
of these troops. . . .

“Sheds are to be constructed at the camp of Chalons
for about 600 waggons, which are to serve for the
baggage train accompanying the first divisions.

“ The regimental waggons which are to serve the
First Corps are to be distributed in the military posts
of the East.

“ According to this plan, the First Army will be
able to find, between the camp at Chalons and the
frontier, all the waggons that it will need for the march.

“ The Army of Lyons will have its means right at
hand ; transportation for the Army of Paris will be at
Satory, and, at the same time, the parks of Chateau-
roux and Vernon will furnish the waggons necessary
for the Second and Third Armies.

“ At this moment the small depots of the East are
being constructed ! the waggons for one division are
at Metz ; at Strasbourg there are waggons for one
brigade, and at Besam^on for one regiment. The
depot of Toul will be opened in a few days.

“ The constructions to be made at Chalons, accord-
ing to the above plan, will probably be finished within
one month.

“ Lyons has the waggons necessary for one division
of infantry and one division of cavalry ; it will receive
within a short time the waggons for another division of
infantry — when the mat'eriel which has come back
from Civita Vecchia has been repaired.

“The barracks which are at present being erected
at Satory will hold all the regimental waggons.

248

The Fre?ich Army

“It is to be hoped that the distribution of the
materiel will be accomplished before spring, with the
exception of that to be sent to the Parc de Chateau-
roux, as the works there cannot yet be commenced on
account of the condition of the ground.”

From this report it will be seen that the Emperor
had a right to believe that no considerable delay
would occur with respect to the distribution of the
army waggons. When the war of 1870 began, almost
two years had elapsed since the arrangements indicated
above were, according to the official report, to be
immediately completed. What, then, will the reader
say when I inform him that these waggons were still
stored up at Vernon and Satory on the outbreak of
hostilities in the year 1870, and that it was a long
while before the greater part of them could be sent to
the different corps, thus hampering the mobilisation
enormously ?

There is a point in the preceding statement which
should not be allowed to pass unobserved, namely,
the waggons were apparently sufficient in number to
meet the requirements of the service. In fact, the
rigid parliamentary inquiry instituted by the Govern-
ment of the Republic, after the war, has made it
perfectly clear that the French War Department in
1870 was well supplied with nearly all the matdriel
necessary for a campaign, with the troops then at the
disposal of the Government. The fatal error — the
unpardonable blunder — of Marshal Leboeuf, and of
his predecessor, Marshal Niel, consisted not so much
in overestimating the number of “ gaiter buttons ” or
other military stores en magazin , as in underestimating

249

The Second French Empire

the time necessary to deliver these supplies where they
were needed, and to provide for their regular distribu-
tion.1 The want of something somewhere put a stop
to every effective movement everywhere. As we
have seen, it was the opinion of both these war
ministers that a fortnight would be time enough in
which to equip and place the whole French army
upon a war footing. Not only was it found to be
impossible to do this, but it was not done at the end
of a month. Nor would it have been possible in a
much longer time, even under the conditions of peace,
to have effectively mobilised the French army, and
got its whole rather complicated machinery into good
working order.

But, strange as it may seem, perhaps in no par-
ticular was the French army less prepared to enter
upon a campaign than on account of the general
ignorance of the geography of the country to be in-
vaded and the absence of maps even of France

1 Unpardonable to every one but to him who was the principal
sufferer. When preparing the article entitled “ Projet d’organisation
de l’armee du Rhin,” published in the “ Oeuvres posthumes de
Napoleon III.,” his collaborator, Count de la Chapelle, inserted a
note addressed to the Emperor by Marshal Leboeuf, in July, 1870,
in which the Marshal says : “ In fifteen days I can at any time
throw upon the frontier an effective force of 400,000 men.” But
the Emperor would not consent to have it published. Writing to
the Count on the subject, he said : “ Although the first document
under the name 1 note of the Minister of War ’ is of the greatest
importance, as regards my own responsibility, I prefer to strike it
out, as it accuses too clearly poor Marshal Leboeuf, who is already so
unfortunate. Consequently I pray you to suppress it.” Indeed, the
Emperor in the kindness of his heart, was willing to pardon nearly
everything and everybody.

250

Sedan and Bismarck

itself. Detachments and whole divisions of the army
wandered about, not knowing exactly where they were
or where they were going. The ignorance of the
French general staff with respect to the topographical
features of the ground upon which the battles of the
war were to be fought would have been incredible,
had not the greatest disasters been directly precipi-
tated by the lack of such specific information and
knowledge. There were orenerals who believed Wis-
sembourg was in Bavaria ; who did not know that
the Meuse and the Moselle were two separate rivers,
or that Sedan was a fortified place. And why should
they be expected to know more than their superiors,
if the story be true that is related of one of the
marshals who was as conspicuous during this war as
he was unfortunate in his leadership? Having
occasion to send a letter to Sydney, New South
Wales, the Marshal, so it is reported, asked a member
of his staff if he could tell him where Sydney was.
“In England,” was the answer. “No,” replied
another member of the staff, “you are mistaken; it
is in the United States.” Perplexed by this con-
tradictory information, the Marshal cried out, “Send

for de H ,” to whom, when he entered the room,

the Marshal said, “Tell me, de H , in what

country is this place, Sydney?” “In New South
Wales,” was the reply. “ But where is New South
Wales?” “In Australia, your Excellency.” “And
in what country is Australia?” “In the Indian
Ocean,” promptly replied M. de H .

“ Sapristi ! ” exclaimed the Marshal ; “ ce diable de
H il connait tout ! ” (he knows everything).

251

The Second French Empire

The discovery of this state of unreadiness, that it
was no longer possible to execute his plan of cam-
paign, must have given a severe shock to the
monarch, who foresaw what evil consequences would
inevitably arise from it ; and it is reported that on
the day of his arrival at Metz, when he recognised
the situation of the army and in what manner his
orders had been executed, the perspiration came out
upon his forehead in great drops, and that he exclaimed,
“ We are lost ! ”

And, as if the disorder and absence of preparation
visible on all sides were not sufficiently discouraging,
the Emperor found lying on his desk at the Prefec-
ture some thirty anonymous letters denouncing the
incapacity of his generals, and demanding that they
should be superseded or discharged. Certainly one
of the most extraordinary things that ever happened
to a sovereign on the eve of battle !

That the delay required to prepare the army for
active service was the proximate cause of the
French reverses in the first battles of the war has
since been universally acknowledged.

Napoleon III. therefore stated the case with abso-
lute accuracy when he wrote, on the 29th of October,
from Wilhelmshohe, to a distinguished English
o-eneral : “ Our disasters have arisen from the fact that

o

the Prussians were ready before we were, and that we
were taken, so to say, en flagrant d'elit de formation .”

As one might have expected from the manner in
which the campaign was opened, so it went on. The
Germans gained one victory after another, and the
situation of the French troops grew from day to day
more difficult.

252

Seda?i and Bismarck

When the news of the first defeats became known
in Paris, it created general consternation. Public
opinion recognised the incapacity of Marshal Lebceuf,
and the Parisians began also to mistrust the capacity
of his Majesty as Commander-in-Chief of the Army
of the Rhine. The Emperor therefore considered it
wise not only to accept the resignation of the Marshal,
but also to lay down his own military command.
There now remained for him nothing but to choose
an able successor.

In a council of the chiefs of the Army Corps,
stationed at that time near Metz, it was finally
decided that Marshal Bazaine should be appointed
Commander of the Army of the Rhine, assisted by
Marshal MacMahon, who was to take command of
his own army corps, as well as of the corps of Generals
de Failly and Felix Douay, and of the new columns
which were being formed at Chalons.

On the 1 6th of August his Majesty made another
concession to public opinion. At the suggestion of
some of his generals, and at the urgent request of
Prince Napoleon, he appointed General Trochu
Governor of Paris — an appointment which, as will
be seen in the following chapters, had very serious
consequences.

Napoleon III. unselfishly yielded to the wishes of
his people by entrusting the most responsible posts
to men whom the military experts and public opinion
had declared to be the most capable ; 1 but the con-

1 These appointments were at the time unanimously commended.
When Count de Palikao announced to the National Assembly that
the Army of the Rhine was under the command of Marshal Bazaine,

253

The Second French Empire

cessions which his Majesty made proved fatal, for
they led swiftly to the disaster of Sedan.

The events which took place during those last
fateful days of his reign are vividly described in a
paper written by the Emperor shortly before his
death. The following pages contain a translation
of a part of this narrative :

“ On the 30th of August, at four o’clock in the
afternoon, the Emperor and the Duke of Magenta
were on the heights of Mouzon, where the Twelfth
Corps was in position. Both had alighted from their
horses. The artillery of General de Failly was heard
in the distance, and General Pajol, who had made a
reconnaissance in order to judge how matters stood,
had brought back the news that the Fifth Corps was
retiring upon Mouzon. The Marshal then told the
Emperor that the whole army would soon have passed

that the Marshal was the only General-in-Chief, the applause was
great. “ Then,” cried M. Barthelemy Saint Hilaire, “ Marshal
Bazaine is Generalissimo. That will give confidence to the
country.” Jules Ferry declared that this appointment gave full
satisfaction to the Chamber, and would be approved by the whole
country. Gambetta afterward spoke of the Marshal as “ our
glorious Bazaine ” ; and the anti-imperialist faction even claimed
the honour of having forced the Government to place the command
of the army in the hands of this general officer. M. de Keratry,
while admitting that this appointment was the work of the anti-
imperialists, justifies their act, and, by implication, gives to the
Emperor all the justification in the matter that the truth of history
requires. M. de Keratry says: “The Opposition, in presenting to
the Regent the name of the Marshal for the post of Commander-in-
Chief, was moved only by a pure sentiment of patriotism, having
in mind but one thing, the thoroughly tried military talent of the
Marshal.”

254

Sedan and Bismarck

to the right bank of the Meuse ; that he himself did
not wish to leave Mouzon before the operation was
completed, but that all was going well. He advised
the Emperor to repair to Carignan, where the First
Corps must already have arrived, and where the head-
quarters were to be established.

“ Napoleon III. therefore departed full of confidence
as to the result of the day. But scarcely an hour after
his arrival at Carignan, General Ducrot came to him
with the most alarming news: the Fifth Corps had
been thrown back in disorder on Mouzon, along with
the brigade that was sent to its aid ; and the Marshal
begged the Emperor to go as quickly as possible to
Sedan, to which place the army would retire. The
Emperor could not believe that the scene had so com-
pletely changed within a few hours ; he therefore
wished to remain with the First Corps, but at the
solicitation of General Ducrot he decided to take the
train, and arrived at eleven o’clock in the night at
Sedan. Here he was urg^ed to continue his route as
far as Mezieres while the railway was still free. He
could there rally the corps of General Vinoy, and
establish a new centre of resistance in one of the
strongholds of the North ; but he thought that, in
this case, he would be accused of seeking his own
personal safety, and he therefore preferred to share
the fate of the army, whatever it might be. The
equipages and escort having been left behind at
Carignan, the Emperor, alone and on foot, followed
by his aides-de-camp, in the silence of the night entered
the city of Sedan, which was about to be the theatre
of such terrible events.

255

The Second French R7npire

“ Sedan, classed among the fortified places, is situated
upon the right bank of the Meuse ; only the suburbs
of Torcy lie upon the left bank. They are covered
by advanced works which form a vast tete de pont .
Formerly the city, owing to the feeble range of the
cannon then in use, was protected by the hills which
surround it. At the present time it is exposed to the
artillery of the enemy when placed upon the heights
which rise upon both sides of the Meuse. Moreover,
in the year 1870 it was incompletely armed, badly
provisioned, and possessed no outworks. On the
right bank of the river are two tributaries, which
form right angles with it — the Floing below and the
Givonne above the city. One of these little streams
runs out from the village of Illy to that of Floing, and
the other from the village of Givonne to that of
Bezailles ; they surround the territory where the battle
was about to take place. The prominent points of the
battlefield are the Calvary of Illy, near the village of
the same name, and the forest of La Garenne, situated
west of the village of Givonne. The only route upon
which a free communication with Mdzieres was
possible was the high-road passing through the
villages of Floing, Saint Albert, Vrigne-aux-Bois,
and Tumdcourt.

“In order to secure a retreat upon Mdzieres, the
narrow defile which extends from Floing, in the
direction of Vrigne-aux-Bois, should have been
strongly occupied, the place itself should have been
abandoned, and the left wing ought to have rested
upon the heights of Illy and of the Givonne.

“General Ducrot, it must be recognised, had cor-

256

Sedan and Bismarck

rectly estimated the position. It was at the Calvary
of Illy that he wished to establish the centre of
resistance. On the 31st of August, however, the
troops were placed in position around the town ; they
were distributed in a semicircle, from which Sedan
as a centre was distant some 3,000 metres, the
extremities touching the villages of Bazeilles and
Floing.

“ From this semicircular position it was inevitable
that the line of retreat must be towards the centre ;
and that if the troops were repulsed they would, by a
natural instinct, precipitate themselves towards the city,
which thus became an entonnoir (a funnel) to engulf
them. To the north of Sedan are the remains of an
abandoned entrenchment called the Old Camp, which
overlooks the surrounding ravines ; and all the ground
which extends to the south of this camp is covered,
as General Ducrot says, ‘ with stone walls, with
gardens and hedges, and with a certain number of
houses, which, joining those at the lower end of
Givonne, made of this spot a veritable labyrinth.
Defended by a few solid troops, it would have been
very difficult to dislodge them ; but, on the contrary,
if a large body of soldiers, repulsed and in disorder,
should retire here for shelter, it would be impossible
to rally and re-form them.’

“It was upon this uneven ground which we have
just described that on the 1st of September, in the
morning, the battle began. The enemy attacked
simultaneously our two wings, evidently intending to
surround us and cut off our retreat.

“ The Marshal, Duke of Magenta, at once repaired

VOL. I. 257 S

The Second French Empire

to the outposts, and the Emperor, to whom he had
sent news of this movement, mounted his horse and
followed him, accompanied by his staff and a troop of
guides.

“ It is easy to understand his state of mind. No
longer exercising the functions of General-in-Chief, he
was not sustained by the feeling of responsibility
which inspires the soul of him who commands ; nor
did he feel the uplifting excitement of those who are
acting under orders, and who know that their devo-
tion may lead to victory. The powerless witness of
a foregone defeat, convinced that on this fatal day his
life, as well as his death, was useless for the common
safety, he advanced to the field of battle with that
stolid resignation which faces danger without weak-
ness, but also without enthusiasm.

“On departing from the Sub- Prefecture, the
Emperor met Marshal MacMahon, who was being
brought back wounded in an ambulance waggon.
After having exchanged a few words with him, he
proceeded in the direction of the village of Bazeilles,
where the division of marines was hotly engaged.
At Balan, General de Vassoigne gave him an account
of the position of the troops. As every group of
officers immediately attracted the fire of the enemy,
the Emperor left his escort and most of his aides-de-
camp, with a battalion of chasseurs that was screened
by a wall, and went forward, followed only by four
persons, towards an open height from which a view
of the greater portion of the field of battle could be
obtained.

“ At this moment General Ducrot, to whom Marshal

258

Sedan and Bismarck

MacMahon had transferred the command, was exe-
cuting a retreat, which under the existing circumstances
was the best course to take. The Emperor sent to
him one of his orderly officers, Captain d’Hendicourt,
to ascertain the direction he wished to give to the
troops. This promising young officer never re-
appeared ; he was probably killed by a shell. The
entire ground upon which the party stood was ploughed
by the enemy’s projectiles, that were bursting around
them on every side.

“ After remaining several hours between La Mon-
celle and Givonne, the Emperor wished to go over
to the lines of infantry which could be seen to the
left, on the heights, but were separated from him by
an impassable ravine. In order to reach them, he had
to make a circuit, which brought him upon the ground
cut across by hollows, hedges, and garden walls, that
formed the labyrinth mentioned above. In the ravine,
called the ‘ Bottom of Givonne,’ the roads were
crowded with the wounded, who were being carried
to the ambulances ; and a park of artillery blocked
the avenues, through which Goze’s division could
proceed only with the greatest difficulty. When the
Imperial party arrived near the old entrenched camp,
a farther advance became impossible, as they met
the infantry that occupied this place in the act of
retiring in good order towards the town. It was
now evident that every line of retreat was cut off by
the enemy, who occupied the circumference ; for
the projectiles directed towards the centre struck the
troops both in front and in the rear. Many of the
soldiers, alleging that they were without cartridges,

259

The Second French Empire

were hurrying towards the only gate of the town
which remained open.

“ After having been during nearly five hours the
witness of a struggle the end of which could be
foreseen, the Emperor, despairing of being able to
reach the heights of Illy from the place where he was,
decided to go back to the town to confer with the
wounded Marshal, and in the hope of leaving it
again through the gate that opens on the departmental
road to Mdzieres. Three officers of his staff had
been wounded at his side and carried away by the
soldiers ; these were the circumstances under which he
returned to the Sub-Prefecture, several shells bursting
in front of his horse, but without harming him.1

“ The road by which he wished to pass out, he
ordered to be reconnoitred at once ; but he was
informed that the Mezieres gate was barricaded, that
it was impossible to get through it, and that the streets
through which he had just come were already blocked
by a confused mass of men, horses, and waggons. It
was necessary, therefore, to remain in the town and
await events. Towards three o’clock an aide-de-camp
of General de Wimpfen, who, as senior officer, had

1 With that forgetfulness of everything which was strictly per-
sonal to himself, so characteristic of him, the Emperor makes no
allusion to the physical tortures he was all this time suffering.
After he had dismounted, when no longer able to sit in the saddle,
he was compelled several times, while walking over the ground he
here describes, to stop and take hold of a tree to support himself,
to keep from falling. “Finally,” says M. Paul de Cassagnac, “I
helped him into a carriage ; and on arriving at the Sub-Prefecture,
he walked some thirty yards leaning on my arm, scarcely able to
drag himself along.”

260

Sedan and Bismarck

taken the command-in-chief, succeeded with great
difficulty in making his way to the Sub-Prefecture.
He came to propose to the Emperor to place himself
at the head of such troops as could be rallied, and
to make an attempt to cut through the enemy’s lines
in the direction of Carignan. The first impulse of
Napoleon III. was to accept the proposal; but he
soon saw that, not to speak of the difficulty of getting
through the crowded streets on horseback, it would be
unbecoming for him to sacrifice, in order to save him-
self, the lives of a great many soldiers, and to escape
with the Commander-in-Chief, abandoning the rest of
the army, and leaving it without a head, exposed to
certain loss. He refused, therefore, to accept General
de Wimpfen’s offer.

“ During this time the situation had assumed a more
and more serious character. The heroic charges of
the cavalry had not been able to arrest the advances
of the enemy. The brave General Margueritte,
mortally wounded, had just been brought at his
request beside the Emperor. At this moment the
surrounding hills on both sides of the Meuse were
lined with several hundred pieces of artillery, which
by a converging fire threw their projectiles into the
city. Houses were on fire, roofs were crushed in, and
death made many victims in the crowded streets, in
the barracks which were transformed into hospitals,
and in the courtyards, where soldiers from every
branch of the service had taken refuge.

“ In the meantime the commanders of the three
army corps, Generals Lebrun, Douay, and Ducrot,
came one after the other to declare to the Emperor

261

The Second French Empire

that further resistance had become impossible ; that
the soldiers, after having fought for twelve hours
without rest or food, were discouraged ; that all those
who had not been able to get into the town were
huddled together in the trenches and against the
walls ; and that it was necessary to come to some
decision.1

“ From the day of leaving Chalons up to this time
the Emperor had considered it to be his duty not to
interfere in any way whatsoever with the arrangements
and decisions of the Commander-in-Chief ; but at this
supreme moment, when, by an unheard-of fatality,
80,000 men appeared to be exposed to certain death
without being able to make any resistance, he remem-
bered that he was the sovereign ; that he had charge
of souls ; and that he ought not to let men be massacred
before his eyes who on some future occasion might be
able to serve their country.

“ Napoleon III. accordingly sent one of his aides-
de-camp up to the citadel in order to assure himself
of the state of things. The officer with very great
difficulty succeeded in passing through the streets and

1 “ The streets were full of the wounded and the dead. All the
superior officers had either been killed or wounded. As for our
batteries, they were fought against ten times their number, superior
also in range and accuracy of fire. These batteries were served
until they were silenced or destroyed ; in some of them not a horse,
not a man was left. The caissons blew up like fireworks. The
cavalry of Margueritte, those grizzly old chasseurs d’Afrique,
those heroes, charged three times, and three times were dashed
to pieces. They did their duty. But human strength has its
limits ; and when we entered into Sedan we were helpless — no-
thing more could be done.” — General Ducrot- Wimpfen versus de
Cassagnac.

262

Sedan and Bismarck

in reaching the citadel, which itself was filled with
soldiers who had taken refuge there. The report
which this aide-de-camp brought back confirmed the
words of the corps commanders. The Emperor, in
consequence, sent General Lebrun to General de
Wimpfen with the advice that he should ask for a
suspension of hostilities, which would give time, if it
were accorded, to collect the wounded and to consider
what it was best to do. General Lebrun not returning,
and the number of victims increasing every moment,
the Emperor took it upon himself to order that a flag
of truce be hoisted. Napoleon III. fully understood
the responsibility he thereby incurred, and he foresaw
the accusations which would be brought against him.
The situation appeared to him in all its gravity ; and
the remembrance of a glorious past, in its contrast with
the present, increased the bitterness of the moment.
Who would ever admit that the army of Sebastopol
and Solterino could be forced to lay down its arms ?
How would it ever be possible to make the world
understand that, when confined within narrow limits,
the more numerous the troops the greater must be the
confusion, and the less the possibility of re-establishing
the order indispensable for fighting ?

“The prestige which the French army so justly
enjoyed was about to vanish in a moment ; and, in the
presence of a calamity without precedent, the Emperor,
although having had no hand in the military move-
ments that led to it, was to remain alone responsible
in the eyes of the world for this great disaster, and for
all the misfortunes which the war might bring in its
train ! And, as if at this last hour nothing should be

263

The Second French Empire

lacking to increase the gravity of the situation, General
de Wimpfen sent his resignation to the Emperor ; thus
leaving the overwhelmed and disbanded army without
a chief, and without guidance, at a time when the
greatest energy was necessary to establish a little order,
and to treat with the enemy with a better chance of
success. The resignation was not accepted ; and
the General-in-Chief was made to understand that,
having commanded during the battle, his duty obliged
him not to desert his post in these very critical
circumstances.

“ While the white flag was being hoisted, a Prussian
officer asked permission to enter headquarters.

“ Through him it was learned that the King of
Prussia was at the gates of the town, but that he was
ignorant of the presence of Napoleon III. in Sedan.

“ Under these circumstances, the Emperor believed
that the only thing which remained for him to do was
to address himself directly to the ruler of Northern
Germany.

“ It had so often been repeated in the journals that
the King of Prussia was not making war against
France, but against the Emperor only, that the latter
was persuaded he might, by disappearing from the
scene and putting himself into the hands of the victor,
obtain the least disadvantageous conditions for the
army, and might give, at the same time, an oppor-
tunity to the Regent to conclude a peace in Paris.
He therefore sent by General Reille, one of his
aides-de-camp, a letter to the King of Prussia, in
which he announced that he would surrender to him
his sword.

264

Sedan a?id Bismarck

“ The King, surrounded by his staff, received
General Reille, and taking in his hand the letter
which he brought, opened it and read the following
words :

“ ‘ Monsieur mon Frere :

“ ‘ N’ayant pas pu mourir au milieu de mes troupes,
il ne me reste plus qu’a remettre mon 6pde entre les
mains de votre Majeste.

“ ‘ Je suis de votre Majesffi le bon frere

“ ‘ Napoleon.’

(“ ‘ My Brother :

“ ‘ Having been unable to die among my troops,
the only thing I can now do is to place my sword in
the hands of your Majesty.

“ ‘ I am, your Majesty’s good brother,

“ ‘ Napoleon.’)

“ At first King William seemed astonished that the
letter did not announce the capitulation of the town
and army ; but having been informed that General de
Wimpfen was the French Commander-in-Chief, he
requested the presence of this General at the Prussian
headquarters that evening.” 1

The meeting took place late in the evening, in the
village of Donchdry, the persons present being, on the
one side, General von Moltke, Count Bismarck,
General von Blumenthal, and a number of officers ;
and, on the other side, General de Wimpfen, General
Castelnau, and General Faure. General de Wimpfen

1 “CEuvres Posthumes de Napoleon III.” E. Lachaud, Paris,
1873, p. 325 ff.

265

The Second French Empire

opened the conference by asking what conditions the
King of Prussia wished to impose upon the French
army were it to surrender. “ They are very simple,”
replied General von Moltke ; “ the whole army are
to be considered as prisoners, with their arms and
baggage. We will allow the officers to retain their
arms, as a testimonial of our esteem for their courage ;
but they will be held as prisoners of war, like the
troops.”

General de Wimpfen at first tried to obtain conces-
sions by appealing to the generosity of the German
commander. When he, however, saw that the latter
remained immovable, he broke out as follows :

“ Well, if you cannot offer us better conditions, I will
appeal to my army — to its honour ; and I will succeed
in breaking through your lines, or I will defend myself
in Sedan.”

Whereupon the Prussian General, who was perfectly
informed as to the situation of both armies, explained
so clearly the actual state of things to the French
commander, that General de Wimpfen, seeing that
from a strategic point of view his threat was without
weight, turned to the political side of the question, and
said :

“You are going to conclude peace, and doubtless
you wish to do this at once. The French nation is
more generous and chivalrous than any other nation,
and consequently it knows how to appreciate the
generosity which is shown to it, and is grateful for
the consideration that is bestowed upon it. If you
accord to us terms which are flattering to the amour
propre of our army, the nation will be equally flattered ;

266

Sec/an and Bismarck

and then the bitterness of the defeat will be diminished
in the hearts of the people, and a peace that is con-
cluded on such conditions will have a chance of being
durable.

“ If you, on the contrary, insist upon rigorous
measures against us, you surely will excite anger and
hatred in the heart of every soldier, and the pride of
the whole nation will be grievously wounded ; for it
considers itself in fellowship with the army and shares
its emotions.

“You, therefore, will awaken all the dangerous
instincts that are slumbering under the cover of an
advanced civilisation, and you may kindle the flames
of an interminable war between France and Ger-
many.”

Moltke remained silent, but Count Bismarck
answering, said :

“At the first glance, General, your argument seems
serious ; but, in fact, it is only specious, and cannot
stand discussion. One ought to count, in general,
very little upon gratitude, and never upon the grati-
tude of a nation. There are times when the gratitude
of a sovereign may be expected ; in some cases, also,
that of his family ; in some exceptional cases, entire
confidence even may be placed in the gratitude of
these. But I repeat it, one must expect nothing from
the gratitude of a nation. If the French nation were
like any other nation ; if it had solid institutions ; if,
like our own, it lived in the reverence and respect
of these institutions ; if there sat upon its throne a
sovereign firmly established, then we could take into
account the gratitude of the Emperor and his son.

267

The Second French Empire

But in France the Governments, during the last
eighty years, have been so little durable, so multi-
tudinous, they have changed with such extraordinary
rapidity, and so entirely against all expectation, that
one cannot count upon anything in your country. If
a neighbouring nation were to found hopes upon the
friendship of a French sovereign, it would commit
an act of craziness — it would be like building in
the air.

“ Moreover, it would be folly to imagine that France
could pardon our success. You are an irritable people,
envious, jealous, and proud to excess. Within the
last two hundred years, France has declared war thirty
times against Prussia [correcting himself], against
Germany ; and this time you have declared war
against us, as always, through jealousy, because you
are not able to pardon us our victory of Sadowa.
And yet Sadowa cost you nothing, and could diminish
in no way your glory ; but it has seemed to you that
victory was a possession uniquely reserved for your-
selves, that military glory was a monopoly of yours.
You could not support by the side of you a nation as
strong as you are ; you have never been able to pardon
us for Sadowa, where neither your interests nor your
glory were at stake. And you never would pardon
us the disaster of Sedan! Never! If we were to
make peace now — in five years — in ten years — as soon
as you could, you would begin the war over again.
This is all the recognition we could expect from the
French people ! But we, we Prussians, just the
opposite of you, are an honest and peaceable people ;
we are never disturbed by the desire of making con-

268

Sedan and Bismarck

quests ; and would like nothing better than to live in
peace, if you were not constantly exciting us by your
quarrelsome and domineering disposition.”

It was not difficult to see, from these words of the
German diplomatist, that, notwithstanding his remarks,
he might have been willing to treat with the Emperor
and that only the fear of a change of Government
decided him to insist upon those severe terms which
would guarantee peace of themselves, even in case of
such a change.

Had General de Wimpfen, therefore, tried to
remove this fear and to defend the loyalty of the
nation, or had Count Bismarck been convinced of the
loyalty of the General himself, then the Count might
have been induced to qualify his statements and to
moderate his demands. But the French General
made no adequate reply ; and when the German
statesman, who evidently had desired to sound the
opinion of General de Wimpfen, saw that the French
plenipotentiary did not think for a moment of pro-
testing against the idea of a possible insurrection
in Paris and of an eventual dethronement of the
Emperor, he continued his attacks upon the unreliable
character of the French people.

“ France has not changed. It is she that has de-
sired war. ... We know very well that the reason-
able and healthy part of France was not inclined
towards this war ; nevertheless, it also finally accepted
the idea of it willingly. We know, too, that it was
not the army which was most hostile to us. The
party in France which forcibly desired war was the
one which creates and destroys governments. In

269

The Second French Empire

your country, this is the populace ; it is also the
journalists [and he put a stress upon this word] ; it is
these we wish to punish ; we must therefore go to
Paris. Who knows what will happen? Perhaps
there will be formed in your country one of those
governments that respect nothing, that make laws for
their own pleasure ; that will not recognise the capitu-
lation you will have signed for the army ; a govern-
ment which perhaps may force the officers to violate
the promises they have given us ; for, of course, they
will say that they have to defend themselves at any
price.” 1

These words characterise plainly enough the reasons
which made the German authorities distrust the ex-
pediency of concessions they otherwise might have
granted, and led them to insist upon a surrender
on the severe conditions which they had at first
demanded. General de Wimpfen, as will be seen,
was finally compelled to accept them.

“ On the morning of the 2nd of September,
Napoleon III., attended by the Prince dela Moskowa,
stepped into a ‘ droschke ’ drawn by two horses, and
drove to the Prussian lines. General Reille preceded
him, on horseback, in order to inform Count Bismarck
of his coming. The Emperor, counting upon return-
ing to the town, did not take leave of the troops of
the line, nor of the battalion of Grenadiers ; nor of
the Cent Gardes , who were his habitual body-guard.
When the drawbridge of the southern gate of Sedan
was lowered, the Zouaves, who were on duty there,

1 Cf. “ La Journee de Sedan,” par le General Ducrot, pp. 53 ff.

270

Sedan and Bismarck

saluted him again with the cry of ‘ Vive /’ Empereur ! ’
It was the last adieu he was ever to hear.

“ Having arrived within a quarter of a league of
Donch^ry, and not wishing to go to the Prussian
headquarters, the Emperor stopped at a little house
on the side of the road, and waited there for the
Chancellor of the Confederation of the North. The
Chancellor, informed by General Reille, arrived soon
after.” 1

Count Bismarck, in a report which he sent to the
Prussian King, has described what then took place.
The following is an almost literal translation of his
words from a French text:

“ Donchery, 2nd September.

“ Having gone, last evening, by order of your
Majesty, to this place, to take part in the negotiations
for the surrender, these were suspended until about one
o’clock at night, in compliance with a request on the
part of General de Wimpfen. Already General von
Moltke had declared in the most categorical manner
that no other condition would be admitted than
that of laying down arms; and that the bombard-
ment would recommence at nine o’clock in the
morning, if at that hour the surrender had not been
made.

“ About six o’clock this morning the arrival of
General Reille was announced. He informed me that
the Emperor wished to see me, and that he was already
on his way hither from Sedan. The General imme-
diately returned to announce to his Majesty that I was

1 “ CEuvres Posthumes de Napoleon III.,” p. 245.

271

The Second French Empire

following him ; and shortly after, about half-way be-
tween here and Sedan, near Frenois, I found myself
in the presence of the Emperor. His Majesty, with
three superior officers, was in an open carriage, and
by the side of the carriage there were three other
officers on horseback, among whom were Generals
Castelneau, Reille, Vaubert, and Moskowa (the last
appearing to be wounded in the foot), who were per-
sonally known to me.

“ When I came to the carriage I dismounted, and
going up to his Majesty and putting my foot on the
step of the carriage, I asked him what were his com-
mands. The Emperor immediately expressed a wish
to see your Majesty, being under the impression that
your Majesty was in Donchery. After I had replied
that your Majesty was at that moment in the head-
quarters at Vendresse, two hours’ distant, the Emperor
asked if your Majesty had appointed a place to which
he should proceed, and, if you had not, what was my
opinion on the subject. 1 replied that I had come here
late at night, in the dark, and that the locality was un-
known to me. I offered for his accommodation the
house I myself occupied at Donchery, which I was
ready to leave at once. The Emperor accepted the
offer, and the carriage proceeded at a walk towards
Donchery.

“ About a hundred yards, however, from the bridge
over the Meuse, at the entrance to the town, he
stopped before the house of an artisan, lonely in its
situation, and asked me if he could descend there from
his carriage. I requested Count Bismarck- Bohlen,
Counsellor of Legation, who had in the meantime

272

J’ablished bn permission of the Hrrlin I ‘linhxjrti \>U ir

Sedan and Bismarck

overtaken me, to examine the house ; and, although
he informed me that it was small and poorly furnished,
the Emperor got down from the carriage and requested
me to follow him. There, in a small room which con-
tained but one table and two chairs, I had about an
hour’s conversation with him.

“ His Majesty insisted particularly upon obtaining
favourable terms of capitulation for the army. I de-
clined from the outset to discuss this matter with him,
because the purely military questions were to be
settled between Generals von Moltke and de Wimpfen.
On the other hand, I asked his Majesty if he was
inclined to enter into negotiations for peace. The
Emperor replied that, as a prisoner, he was not now
in a position to do so. And when I further asked
who, in his opinion, actually represented authority in
France, his Majesty referred me to the Government
then existing in Paris.

“ After this point had been cleared up — about which
one could not form a definite opinion from the letter
sent yesterday by the Emperor to your Majesty — I
recognised, and I did not conceal the fact from the
Emperor, that the situation to-day, as yesterday, pre-
sented no practical side but the military one ; and I
dwelt upon the paramount necessity, in consequence,
of having in our hands, through the surrender of
Sedan first of all, a material guarantee that would
assure to us the military advantages that we had now

“ I had on the previous evening, with General von
Moltke, discussed and examined every side of the
question whether it would be possible, without injury

vol. i. 273 t

The Second French Empire

to the interests of Germany, to concede to the military
honour of an army that had fought bravely, conditions
more favourable than those already demanded. After
due deliberation, we were both compelled to persist
in our negative opinion. If, therefore, General von
Moltke, who meantime had joined us, returned to
your Majesty to lay before you the wishes of the
Emperor, it was not, as your Majesty knows, to speak
in their favour.

“ The Emperor then went into the open air, and in-
vited me to sit beside him before the door of the house.
His Majesty asked me if it was not possible to let the
French army cross the Belgian frontier, so that it
might be there disarmed and interned. I had discussed
this contingency also with General von Moltke on the
previous evening, and, for the reasons already alluded
to, I declined to consider the suggestion.

“The political situation I, on my part, did not
broach, nor did the Emperor either, only in so far as
he deplored the misfortunes of the war. He declared
that he himself had not wished for war, but that he
had been compelled to make it by the pressure of
French public opinion.

“ In the meantime, after inquiries in the town, and
in particular through reconnoitrings by the officers of
the general staff, it was decided that the Chateau of
Bellevue, near Frenois, which was not occupied by the
wounded, was a suitable place for the reception of the
Emperor. I announced it to his Majesty, saying that
I would propose Frenois to your Majesty as the place
of meeting ; and I asked the Emperor if he would not
prefer to go there immediately, since a longer stay at

274

Seda?i and Bis?narck

this small house was not becoming to him, and as he
perhaps was in want of some repose.

“ His Majesty readily accepted the suggestion, and
I conducted him, preceded by a guard of honour chosen
from your Majesty’s regiment of body-guards, to the
Chateau of Bellevue where the staff and the carriages
of the Emperor, coming directly from Sedan, had
already arrived. I found there also General de Wimp-
fen ; and, while waiting for the return of General von
Moltke, General Podbielski resumed with him the
negotiations concerning the capitulation that had been
broken off yesterday, in the presence of Lieutenant-
Colonel von Verdy and the chief of General de
Wimpfen’s staff, the last two drawing up the official
report.

“ I took no part in these negotiations except, at the
beginning, by reciting the political and legal aspects
of the situation, in conformity with what the Emperor
himself had said to me. But at this instant I received
by Rittmeister Count von Noslitz a notice from
General von Moltke that your Majesty did not wish
to see the Emperor until after the capitulation had
been signed. This announcement extinguished on
both sides the hope that any other conditions than
those already stipulated would be agreed to.

“ I went after this to Chehery to see your Majesty
in order that I might announce to you the position of
affairs ; and on the way I met General von Moltke,
with the text of the capitulation as approved by your
Majesty ; which, after we came together at Frenois,
was, without discussion, accepted and signed.

“The conduct of General de Wimpfen, like that of

275

7 "he Second French Empire

the other French generals on the preceding night, was
very dignified. This brave officer, however, could
not refrain from expressing to me his profound dis-
tress at being called upon, forty-eight hours after
his arrival from Africa, and six hours after his
receiving the command, to sign his name to a capitu-
lation so cruel to the French arms. But the want
of provisions and ammunition, and the absolute
impossibility of any further defence, had, he said,
laid upon him, as a general, the duty of sinking his
personal feeling, since more bloodshed could not
make any change for the better in the situation.

“Our agreement to let the officers depart with their
arms on parole was received with lively gratitude as
an indication of the intention of your Majesty — ex-
ceeding even the demands of our military and political
interests — to spare the feelings of an army that had
fought so bravely. To this sentiment General de
Wimpfen has given emphatic expression in a letter
in which he has returned his thanks to General von
Moltke for the considerate and courteous manner in
which the negotiations on his side were conducted.”

After the capitulation had been signed, General de
Wimpfen submitted the document to the Emperor,
who was in a room on the floor above. Soon after,
the King of Prussia and the Prince Royal came up
to the chateau on horseback, accompanied by a small
escort.

The meeting between the sovereigns was most
painful. Both the King and the Prince Royal ex-
pressed for the Emperor the deepest sympathy, and
assured him of their readiness to do everything in

276

NAPOLEON III.

From his last photograph taken by \V. and D. Downey in 1S7~.

J

To face />. 277.

Sedan and Bismarck

their power to ameliorate the sadness of his situation.
The King- then assigned to him the Palace at Wil-
helmshohe as a residence, and permitted him to send
in cipher a despatch to the Empress. In this despatch
the Emperor announced briefly the disaster at Sedan,
and advised the Empress to endeavour to negotiate a
peace.

How profoundly the Emperor was affected by the
disastrous end of the campaign is made painfully
evident in the two letters which he wrote to the
Empress immediately after the capitulation of the
army. They are as follows :

[translation]

“ Quartier Imperial, September 2, 1870.

“ My dear EuGfiNiE :

“It is impossible for me to express to you what
I have suffered and what I suffer. We have made
a march contrary to all principles and to common
sense. This could not fail to bring on a catastrophe.
In fact, it has done so. I should have preferred
death to the pain of witnessing so disastrous a capitu-
lation ; nevertheless, it was, under the circumstances,
the sole means of avoiding the slaughter of 80,000
persons.

“Would that all my torments were centred here !
But I think of you, of our son, of our unhappy
country. May God protect it ! What will become
of Paris ?

“ I have just seen the King. He spoke to me with
tears in his eyes of the distress I must feel. He has
put at my disposal one of his chateaux near Cassel.

2 77

The Second French Empire

But what does it matter where I go ! ... I am in
despair. Adieu. I kiss you tenderly.

“ Napoleon.”

[translation]

“ Bouillon, September 3, 1870.

“ My dear Eugenie :

“ After the irreparable misfortunes that I have
witnessed, I think of the dangers you run, and I am
awaiting news from Paris with intense anxiety.

“ The present catastrophe is what might have been
expected. Our advance was the height of imprudence,
and, moreover, very badly managed. But I could
never have believed that the catastrophe would prove
so frightful. Imagine an army surrounding a fortified
town and itself surrounded by far superior forces. At
the end of several hours our troops made an entrance
into the town. Then the town was filled with a com-
pact crowd, and upon this dense mass of human heads
the bombs were falling from all sides, killing the
people who were in the streets, bursting through roofs
and setting houses on fire.

“In this extremity the generals came to tell me
that all resistance was impossible. There were
neither regular troops, nor ammunition, nor pro-
visions remaining. A charge was attempted, but was
unsuccessful.

“ I remained four hours upon the field of battle.

“The march to-day in the midst of the Prussian
troops was veritable torture. Adieu. I kiss you
tenderly.

278

“ Napoleon.”

Sedan and Bismarck

The Emperor had yet two years to live ; but at
Sedan he was struck with death. Humiliated and
overwhelmed with grief on that day, his heart was
broken by the outrageous accusations that continued
to pursue him without respite. He harboured little
bitterness of feeling- towards his accusers. He even
made excuses for some of those who, forgetting his
entire past, believed the charges preferred against
him ; but they caused him no less suffering. His
responsibility he accepted, but it was never out of
his mind. Often a broken phrase escaping his lips,
as if in spite of himself, betrayed to those about him
the persistence of that fixed idea which haunted him
to the tomb. “ Conneau,” said he, in a weak and
barely intelligible voice, the instant before he expired,
“ Conneau, were you at Sedan ? ” These words, the
last that he uttered, plainly revealed the ever-open
wound.

279

CHAPTER VIII

THE FALL OF THE SECOND EMPIRE

Effects in Paris of the news of the first reverses — “ Nous sommes
trahis ” — The resignation of the Ministry — General de Palikao
— A new Ministry is formed — General Trochu is appointed
Military Governor — An unsuccessful mission — The announce-
ment of the disaster of Sedan — A Cabinet Council is con-
voked— General Trochu is requested to come to the Palace —
The night of September 3rd at the Tuileries — The morning
of September 4th — The council of Ministers — A deputation
is sent to the Empress — Her Majesty is advised to resign —
Her reply — The proposition of M. Thiers — The Palais-Bourbon
is invaded by the mob — The conduct of General Trochu — The
Emperor pronounces it “flagrant treason” — The simple facts
- — A pandemonium — The last session of the Senate — “ I yield
to force.”

E have now to return to the French capital,

where we saw the population so hopeful and
exultant at the outbreak of the war.

How changed is everything here ! The first bad
news had effected a revulsion in the popular feeling ;
and the general intoxication was followed by a sudden
and complete reaction, as soon as the defeats of the
French arms at Wissembourg, Froesch wilier, and
Forbach became known.

If the misfortunes of their country had merely

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The Fall of the Second Empire

sobered the minds of the people, and produced among
them a clear understanding of the actual state of
things, and the consciousness of having been them-
selves the cause of the disasters, the result might
have been highly beneficial, and all the mistakes
might perhaps still have been repaired. As it was,
the first reverses only prepared the way for new ones ;
for in the panic that followed, the people, instead of
strengthening the hands of the Government, madly
strove in every way to weaken its hold on the country
and to paralyse its efforts to meet the requirements of
the situation.

On the 8th of August the Empress issued a
proclamation.

“ Frenchmen,” said she, “ the beginning of the
war is unfavourable to us ; we have met with a check.
Be firm in the presence of this reverse, and let us
make haste to repair it. Let there be among us but
one party — that of France ; but one standard — that of
the national honour. I am here in the midst of you ;
and, faithful to my mission and to my duty, you will
see me the first in the place of danger to defend the
flag of France.”

But she appealed in vain to the patriotism and the
chivalry of the nation.

Before the beginning of the war the opposition of
the people to the will of the sovereign had prevented
him from making the necessary preparations ; and as
a consequence the army had been defeated ; but those
who had violently opposed every proposal to increase
the efficiency of the army, far from blaming them-
selves, now accused the Government of negligence,

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and held it responsible for the loss of the first
battles.

To abolish the existing Ministry, therefore, became
the chief desire of the demoralised and discontented
people. There was a great discordance of opinion,
however, with regard to the persons by whom it
should be replaced. All were clamouring that some-
thing should be done, but no one seemed to know
what ought to be done. Some believed it would be
sufficient, in order to obtain the immediate triumph of
the French arms, simply to write the word “ Republic ”
upon the flag ; others proclaimed that the presence of
the Count de Chambord upon the throne would have
that effect — by securing for France alliances; but on
one point all the enemies of the Empire agreed, viz,
that the Deputies should be called together, and that
the Ollivier Cabinet should be overthrown.

The people, dazed or stung to madness by defeat,
forgot their own interests and the welfare of their
country ; while an unscrupulous Press, instead of
trying to aid the Government in its difficult task, by
urging the population to keep calm, and by informing
them that the safety of the State, that even the
integrity of France, depended on the union of its
citizens in the defence of their fatherland, took special
pains to incite their readers to a revolution, by
appealing to their political animosities and prejudices,
and, finally, by telling them that they had been
betrayed.

Among a people essentially democratic, the national
vanity is a force that is apt to dominate the public
intelligence and to silence conscience. The people

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The Fall of the Second Empire

can do no wrong ; they are always wise and blame-
less. If they meet with disasters and defeat, it is
never through any fault of theirs, but is attributed to
the ignorance and folly, or treachery even, of their
official representatives.

To the foreigner knowing something of the organi-
sation of the French army sent into the field in 1870,
and of the causes which had determined that organisa-
tion, nothing could sound more pitiful or contemptible
than the cries of “nous sommes trains” with which
wounded vanity filled the air of the capital, while
courage and self-abnegation, and all that was noblest
in France, were yielding up their lives in a desperate
struggle with overwhelming numbers to defend the
honour of the country and protect and preserve the
patrimony of the people.

Betrayed! Yes. The French were betrayed ; but
not by Napoleon III., nor by the generals, whose
misfortune it was to lead the armies of France to
defeat ; but by the men who persistently refused to
give to the Emperor the military organisation which
he had called for, and who, with an ignorant incom-
prehension of the political aims of the Prussian
Government, and stupidly refusing to recognise the
military power of Germany after it had been clearly
revealed to the world, were incessantly clamouring
for war and a compensation for Sadowa, and boasting
of the invincibility of the French army.

If the French people were betrayed in 1870, it was
by political demagogues in the Chamber of Deputies
or speaking through the Press, who on the one hand
magnified the burden of the war budget, talked of

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vast and needless expenditures, and denounced the
army as a menace to liberty ; while on the other hand
they flattered the people with phrases until they
actually believed they were unconquerable.

The French people were rudely awakened from
this illusive dream by the German guns at Woerth
and Forbach. But it was their own fault if they
began to pay the penalty then, which they never since
have ceased to pay, in armies surrendered, provinces
lost, the horrors of the Commune, immense indem-
nities, the public debt doubled, taxes enormously
increased, a remorseless conscription law that forces
every able-bodied Frenchman to serve in the army
for three years, and, most humiliating of all — for as
Renan has said, “ La France souffre tout except t d'etre
mddiocre ” — in being compelled to witness and to
acknowledge the fall of their country from its ancient
position of leadership among the great Powers of
Europe. And all this through the failure to make,
for the contingency of a war that was imminent, such
provision as common sense should have recognised as
necessary for the national security.

What a warning of the danger of being caught
unprepared for war ! The Franco-German War of
1870 exhibited once more to the world the irreparable
consequences of a nation losing its instinctive con-
sciousness of its military needs — of permitting itself to
be enticed away from all thought or concern for the
public welfare by the demands of individual and
private interest, the accumulation of wealth, the love
of luxury, and the display of personal possessions.

For it must be admitted that not the least among

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The Fall of the Second Empire

the indirect causes of the disasters that overwhelmed
the French armies, as well as of the final collapse of
the Imperial rdgime , was the extraordinary commercial
prosperity of the country from 1852 to 1870. This
was the period of the greatest industrial activity that
France had ever before known. Vast fortunes were
rapidly made and as rapidly dissipated, and French-
men amused themselves. It is in such times, when
“ tout bourgeois veut batir comine les grands seigneurs ,”
that the solidarity of society is lost sight of, and the
State is exposed to the dangers that follow in the
train of a sordid and incoherent individualism.

Since the Emperor, before leaving for the field, had
unfortunately promised that the National Assembly
should be convoked in case the nation desired it, the
Empress Regent had to give way to the general
clamour, and the session of the Legislative Body was
accordingly fixed for the 9th of August.

At the very first meeting of the Deputies, the
Ministers recognised that they would have to resign.
Her Majesty could not help accepting their resig-
nation ; and she consequently was compelled to
choose a new Cabinet. The wishes of the Radicals
were thus fulfilled, and a ministerial crisis was added
to the perils of the situation.

The Empress, after a short deliberation with her
Counsellors, sent a message to Count de Palikao,
summoning him to come without delay to the capital.

The Count arrived in Paris on the morning of the
10th, and immediately hastened to the palace. Not-
withstanding the fact that he had been somewhat

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neglected at the beginning of the war, and that
younger officers had obtained important positions and
commands in the army in the field, while he was
obliged to remain at Lyons, he was anxious to do all
in his power to aid the Regent and to defend his
country.

When his arrival was announced the Empress, who
at the time was with her ministers, rose, and stepping
forward to meet him, said : “ General, I have sent for
you because I have a great act of devotion to ask of
you.” Count de Palikao answered : “ I am ready to
show all my devotion to the Empress and to my
country. Will your Majesty please indicate what you
desire of me ? ”

“ I ask of you to be our Minister of War,” the
Empress replied.

That was not exactly an enviable position.
Nevertheless, after having hesitated for some
moments, and after having stated that he had little
experience in political affairs, that he was a soldier,
and not accustomed to speak in public, Count de
Palikao accepted. His patriotism was, however, to
undergo a still more serious test.

“ General,” said the Empress, “since you have sub-
mitted, you must sacrifice yourself entirely. You must
form a new Ministry.” 1

Such a mission was exceedingly difficult for a man
who had spent nearly all his life in camp, and the
responsibilities connected with it might have deterred
many men. As, however, the Empress and her

i Cf. “ Enquete Parlementaire sur les Actes du Gouvernement
de la Defense Nationale,” tome i. p. 164 ff.

286

The Fall of the Second Empire

counsellors insisted, and maintained that there was
no other man who could form a Cabinet that would
have any chance of permanency, he finally agreed also
to this proposition.

Count de Palikao was one of those old soldiers who
never discuss a point when there is a duty in question,
but who go right to work without phrases. After
some hours of labour, thanks to his patriotism, he
was able to present to her Majesty and the Chamber
the list of persons whom he proposed for the new
Cabinet. It was constituted as follows : Count de
Palikao himself had the portfolio of War ; Henri
Chevreau became Minister of the Interior; Magne
was named Minister of Finance ; Granperret, Minis-
ter of Justice; Clement Duvernois, Minister of Com-
merce ; Admiral Rigault de Genouilly kept his place
as Minister of the Navy ; Baron Jerome David was
appointed Minister of Public Works ; the Prince de
la Tour d’Auvergne became Minister for Foreign
Affairs; Brame, Minister of Public Instruction; and
Busson-Billault was appointed President of the State
Council.

It now devolved upon this new Ministry to satisfy
the popular feeling with regard to the command of
the army. How this was accomplished we have seen.
The Cabinet granted the wish of the Opposition, and
the result was that General Lebceuf resigned, and the
Emperor laid down his military command.

This change in the general administration proved
disastrous ; for, however unfit General Lebceuf may
have been, it was he who had made all the prepara-
tions for the campaign ; and to depose him, and

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The Second French Rmpire

entrust his position to any one else, however capable,
necessarily brought about confusion, since it was im-
possible for his successor to efficiently discharge the
duties of his most important office without becoming
acquainted not only with the general state of things,
but with a great multitude of essential details as well.
And for such studies there was no time, in the midst
of the serious events which were then following each
other in quick succession.

Other circumstances, moreover, aggravated the
situation. General Trochu, who, as already men-
tioned, had been appointed by the Emperor Military
Governor of Paris, entered the city at the head of an
enormous army of Gardes Mobiles , and soon assumed
there a position which was altogether exceptional.

When he presented himself before the Empress
Regent, in order to announce to her his nomination,
her Majesty was at first very much startled. She
accepted, however, the appointment, and finally
became reconciled to it, because a number of per-
sons about her seemed to have confidence in the
new Governor.

The events which followed proved that in selecting
the Governor a great mistake had been made ; and to
the Emperor, as well as to the Regent, who had been
induced to believe in the loyalty of the man, it was
soon to be revealed with startling effect that the
sympathies of General Trochu were not what they
should have been, but that at heart he was with the
enemies of the Imperial dynasty.

During the evening of the 2nd of September there
were rumours of a disaster at Sedan, and M. Jerome

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The Fall of the Second Empire

David, a member of the Cabinet, received a private
despatch announcing that the Emperor had been
taken prisoner. But in the absence of official news,
Paris at the time was full of the wildest rumours.
Nevertheless, the Empress was greatly moved by
these reports, and they produced upon the public
in general a state of excitement or consternation
that was paralysing and fatal to any well-conceived,
intelligent effort to assist the sovereign to meet the
impending crisis. One of the first thoughts that
occurred to some of the friends of her Majesty was
that M. Thiers might perhaps be induced to come
to her assistance, or, at least, to consent to aid her
with his counsel. And, curiously enough, a precedent
for this idea was found in the course taken by Marie
Antoinette, who, in circumstances in some respects
similar, had appealed to Mirabeau, and had obtained
from him the reply, “ Madame , La monarchic est
sauvde." And then, again, had not M. Thiers sent
word to the Emperor, only a few weeks before, that
the time might come when he could be of service to
the Imperial Government? And so it was that M.
Prosper Merimee, a friend of the Empress from her
childhood, was requested to see M. Thiers and ascer-
tain if he would consent to give to her Majesty the
benefit of his counsel. And M. Mdrimee failing to
obtain a satisfactory reply, immediately afterward, on
the same day, M. Ayguesvives was entrusted with
the same mission, but equally without success ; for
M. Thiers, whatever may have been the quality of
his patriotism, was altogether too astute to embark
his political fortunes in a sinking ship.
vol. i. 289

u

The Second French Empire

The Empress herself had no knowledge of this
proceeding. Nor is the incident of any special con-
sequence, except as it throws a vivid light upon the
disarray and demoralisation existing at the time about
the Court and in official circles.

It was about half-past four o’clock on the 3rd of
September wffien M. de Vougy, the Director of the
Telegraphic Service, brought to the Tuileries the
despatch in which the Emperor announced to his
consort the disaster of Sedan. M. Chevreau, when
he had read the communication, pale with terror and
struck dumb by the calamity, hastened to the Empress
and handed to her the ominous paper that contained
only two lines, but two lines of the most terrible
significance :

“ L' armee est defaite et captive ; nay ant pu me faire
tuer au milieu de mes soldats , j'ai du me constituer
prisonnier pour sauver I'armde. — Napoleon."

(The army has been defeated and captured.
Having been unable to get killed in the midst of
my soldiers, I have been obliged to give myself up
as a prisoner in order to save the army.)

With a cry of anguish, the Empress, who had risen
to meet her Minister, sank back into her seat. The
weakness of the woman succumbed to this fearful blow
of fate, and the hot tears came rushing into her eyes.
For a few painful moments she remained silent ; her
distress was too acute for speech or thought. She
then arose and retired to her private cabinet. But
after a little while she revived, and becoming conscious
of her responsibilities as Regent, and stimulated by

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The Fall of the Second Empire

the hope that even yet all was not lost, began to think
what it was her duty to do, in view of the new
situation that had been created, and what measures
should be taken to limit, or prevent, if possible, some
of its most appalling and disastrous consequences. A
Cabinet Council was called by her, and half an hour
later the Ministers met together for the purpose of
considering what should be done to check the ad-
vance of the Prussians and safeguard the interests
of France. The sitting lasted until nearly nine
o’clock.

A new coup-d' Etat might have saved the dynasty ;
but the Regent, as well as the majority of her Minis-
ters, was decidedly against such a measure. When
the question arose whether the Tuileries and other
public buildings should be defended by an armed
force, in case of necessity, the Regent, while she
consented that the Chamber of Deputies should be
protected by troops, positively refused to have the
Tuileries protected except by the usual guard. She
expressly insisted that orders should be given to the
soldiers not to fire upon the people, whatever might
happen, and she declared it to be her wish that not a
drop of French blood should be shed for the preserva-
tion of her life.1

The only means which now remained for saving the
Government was to try to obtain the spontaneous
assistance of all its forces ; and it was recognised that
General Trochu alone, on account of his position and
his popularity, would be able to exercise the desired
influence upon the troops in Paris. Should he show

1 “ Enquete Parlementaire,” tome i. p. 145.

291

! The Second French Empire

himself resolute to defend the Government, then it was
certain he would carry along with him the National
Guards and defeat the hopes of the Republican agi-
tators. Her Majesty therefore sought to obtain the
assistance of the Governor of Paris, whose special
mission it was to defend the Government and provide
for the security of the capital, and upon whose loyalty
and support she confidently counted. For this purpose
she requested Admiral Jurien de la Graviere to inform
General Trochu that she wished very much to see
him. General Trochu sent back word that he had
just returned from a visit to the forts, that he was very
tired, and had not yet dined. The Empress expressed
her surprise on being told the reason given by General
Trochu for not immediately complying with her re-
quest. “ He has not had his dinner ! ” she exclaimed ;
“neither have I had mine. Is it becoming, at an
hour like this, to think first of our dinners ? ” And
then she sent M. Chevreau, the Minister of the
Interior, to him, to announce the contents of the
telegram which she had received from the Emperor,
and to request him to come at once to the palace, in
order to deliberate with her in regard to the necessary
preparations for an emergency.

M. Chevreau hastened to the Louvre and delivered
this message to General Trochu. He described to
him the anguish and despair of the Regent. “ She
has received the most cruel blow,” he said, “ as a
sovereign, as a wife, and as a mother ; there is no
portion of her heart that does not bleed. She needs
to have near her devotion and friendship. Go to her ;
your presence will do her good.”

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The Fall of the Second Empire

The General answered that he had just dismounted
from his horse ; that he was tired ; that he had not
yet dined, but that he would come in the evening,
after his dinner, to see her Majesty.1

M. Chevreau left General Trochu very much
astonished at his trivial excuses, but in the persuasion
that the Governor would, nevertheless, go to the
Tuileries. In fact, how could any one believe that a
soldier would refuse to meet his sovereign, who had
appealed to him for counsel, were it only as a mark of
sympathy for a woman in misfortune, especially when
he had taken upon himself the duty of aiding and
defending her? General Trochu, however, did not go
to the palace that evening. Again and again he was
sent for, but could not be found.

Until late in the evening of Saturday, the 3rd, the
entourage of the Empress had not lost their confidence
in the ability of the Imperial Government to main-
tain itself. It was reported that, the Radicals having
approached General Trochu, he had replied : “Don’t
count on me. I shall remain faithful to the duty I
have accepted ” ; and that, on the other hand, General
de Palikao had said openly that he would not hesitate
a moment to send the Governor of Paris to Vincennes,
if he suspected him to be a traitor. But with the
declining day the occupants of the Tuileries began to
grow anxious. The reports received became more
and more alarming. All night long the Empress was
occupied in opening despatches that came in from
every side, some communicating the poignant details
of the recent battles ; others reporting the openly

1 “ L’Empire et la Defense de Paris,” par le General Trochu, p. 82.

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The Second French Empire

hostile manifestations that were taking place in the
streets of Paris ; that a plot, even, had been laid to
seize her as a hostage ; but not one word of good
news, not one word of encouragement, came from
without to brighten the sinister story of misfortune
that was breaking her heart, or to lighten the burden
of official duties that was overwhelming her. That
night there was a sitting of the Chamber of Deputies.
But not a Minister, not a person, came to inform her
Majesty what resolutions had been taken, or to report
to her the proceedings at this important meeting.
Bravely she strove to support, without faltering,
the cruel blows that were falling upon her, and with
admirable fortitude devoted every energy of her being
to the defence of the nation. After a night passed
without a moment’s rest, at seven o’clock the Empress
retired to the little chapel attached to her apartment,
there to fall upon her knees and invoke the Divine
compassion and assistance. Half an hour later, as a
Sister of Charity, she visited the hospital that had
been established at the Tuileries, in the great Salle
des Spectacles, near the Pavilion de Marsan, and
which was filled with the wounded who had been
brought back to Paris.

Amid all these occupations and distractions, she
found time to send a despatch to her mother, the
Countess de Montijo, who was in Madrid, announcing
the disaster at Sedan, and closing with words that
revealed a spirit undaunted, and her indomitable
resolve to do her duty, let come what might :

“ Keep up your courage, dear mother. If France

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The Fall of the Second Empire

wishes to defend herself, she is able to. I shall do my
duty. Your unhappy daughter, Eugenie.”

At half-past eight o’clock the Council was to meet.
Just before this meeting it was suggested to the
Empress, by one of her friends, that General Trochu
could not be trusted. But her Majesty would not
listen to what was said ; had not the Governor given
his orders that cavalry be posted at the Palais-
Bourbon, and the Tuileries guarded? and had not
General Trochu also sent word that he would be
present at the meeting of the Council ?

When the hour fixed for the meeting had already
passed, and General Trochu had not yet arrived, M.
Chevreau asked the Empress to let the Ministers
wait for the Governor, contrary to all usage, so
necessary was his presence at this Council. At last
the General made his appearance, and saluted the
Empress with the vague, bombastic phrase : “ Madame ,
voila 1' heure des grands perils ! Nous ferons tout ce
que nous devons." (Madame, behold the hour of great
perils has come ! We shall do everything that we
ought to do.) 1

After this the General had some private conversa-
tion with her Majesty, which, whatever may have
been his protestations of devotion and his promises to
protect her person, could scarcely have reassured the
Empress with respect to his purpose to use the
influence and means at his disposition to uphold and
maintain the Government ; for when she re-entered
the Council-room, and when M. Chevreau, anxious

1 “ L’Empire et la Defense de Paris,” p. 428.

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The Second French Empire

to know how matters stood, approached her with the
words, “Eh bien , madame ? ” her Majesty made no
reply except by an appealing look and gesture, which
indicated that there was little hope.1

The Council of Ministers then examined the situa-
tion on all sides, and deliberated upon the means
which might possibly prevent the danger that seemed
to be rapidly approaching. For, the night before,
Jules Favre had already proposed to the Deputies
that Napoleon III. be deposed, and his dynasty over-
thrown ; while, judging by the reports which arrived
from the Prefecture of Police, it could not be doubted
that an insurrection might take place that very day.

Some of the persons present gave expression to the
opinion that it would perhaps be wise to transfer the
seat of the Government from Paris to one of the cities
in the provinces. But it was remarked that were this
done the capital would be at the mercy of the mob ;
that the Parisians would undoubtedly set up a new
Government, and that, through interior disorder and
dissension which must necessarily follow, the city would
be delivered into the hands of the enemy. In conse-
quence of considerations of this nature, the idea of
changing the seat of Government was rejected by
most of the members of the Cabinet Council, and also
by her Majesty herself, who concluded her remarks on
the subject with the words : “II fant tomber sans en-
combrer la resistance 2 (Let me fall without being
an encumbrance to the defence.)

It was finally agreed that a proclamation should be

1 “ Enquete Parlementaire,” tome i. p. 267.

2 Ibid., op. cit., tome i. p. 156.

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The Fall of the Second Empire

published informing the people of the military situa-
tion and appealing to their patriotism, and that the
Government should be strengthened by the participa-
tion of the two Chambers. But opinions differed as
to the manner in which this co-operation ought to be
obtained.

One of the Deputies, M. Buffet, had advised the
Ministers to persuade the Regent to place all her
powers in the hands of the Legislative Assembly, in
order to put this body in a position to elect a new
Executive power ; but this advice was rejected
because it was alleged that, in case the Regency
should declare itself void of power, the Legislative
Assembly would also, at the same time, lose its legal
authority.

The Ministers finally proposed to present to the
Assembly a law by which a Council, consisting of five
members elected by the Deputies, should receive the
power to assist the Regent, and by which Count de
Palikao should be appointed Lieutenant-General, and
President of this Council.

This proposition was submitted to the Deputies at
the sitting which was opened a few hours later — at
i p.m. — but did not meet with the approval of the
majority ; it was rejected, with many others, and the
project of M. Buffet was declared to be the only
acceptable one. This gentleman, therefore, accom-
panied by MM. Daru, Kolb- Bernard, Genton, d’Ay-
guesvives, Baron de Pierres, and M. Dupuy-de-Lome,
was sent to the Tuileries, in order to request her
Majesty to renounce her power and to hand it over to
the Legislative Body.

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The Empress received the deputation graciously,
yet with great dignity, and without apparent agitation.
The interview took place in the Salon Bleu , adjoining
her Majesty’s private cabinet. M. Buffet spoke first,
explaining the project in the name of his colleagues.
This he did at considerable length, setting forth its
purpose with clearness and force, and exhibiting deep
feeling. He was followed by M. Daru, who spoke
strongly in favour of the measure.

The Empress listened calmly to the speeches of the
Deputies, and then, as if under the influence of a sort
of inspiration, she replied :

“ Gentlemen, you say the future can be insured on
condition that I now, and at an hour of the greatest
peril, abandon the post that has been confided to me.
I must not, I cannot, consent to that. The future
occupies me to-day the least of all things — I mean,
not, of course, the future of France, but the future
of our dynasty. Believe me, gentlemen, the trials
through which I have passed have been so painful, so
horrible, that, at the present moment, the thought of
preserving the crown to the Emperor, and to my son,
gives me very little anxiety. My only care, my only
ambition, is to fulfil to the utmost the duties which
have been imposed upon me. If you believe, if the
Legislative Body believes, that I am an encumbrance,
that the name of the Emperor is an obstacle, and not
a source of strength in the attempt to master the
situation and organise the defence, then you ought to
pronounce the dethronement ; and if you do, I will
not complain, for then I shall be able to leave my
place with honour. I should not, in that case, have

298

The Fall of the Second Empire

deserted it. My honour, my duty, and, above all, the
interests of the country in the presence of a trium-
phant enemy, require that the integrity of the Govern-
ment should be maintained. I shall remain till the
very last moment where I have been placed, faithful
to my office. Were I to do otherwise, like a soldier
who deserts his post in the hour of peril, I should
betray the trust the Emperor has confided to me. I
am persuaded that the only sensible and patriotic
course the Representatives of the country can take,
will be to gather around me and around my Govern-
ment, to leave aside, for the moment, all questions of
party, and to unite their efforts strictly with mine in
order to meet the invasion.”

After these words, the Empress recalled to the
Deputies the noble behaviour of the Cortes of Spain
in Cadiz, who remained true to their captive King,
and who were rewarded for their unchangeable devo-
tion and their energetic perseverance by the final
triumph of their cause.

“ As for myself,” she continued, “ I am ready to
meet all dangers, and to follow the Legislative Body
to any place where it may decide to organise the
defence ; and even should a defence be found im-
possible, I believe I might still be useful in obtaining
the most favourable terms of peace.

“ Yesterday the Representative of a great Power
proposed to me to secure the mediation of the neutral
countries upon these two grounds : ‘ Integrity of the
French territory, and the maintenance of the Imperial
dynasty.’ I answered that I was disposed to accept
a mediation upon the first basis, but I energetically

299

The Second French Empire

refused it upon the second. The preservation of the
dynasty is a subject which regards France alone, and
I will never permit foreign Powers to interfere with
our interior affairs.”

Although these words of her Majesty made a great
impression upon the persons present, M. Daru insisted
that the Empress should leave her post, and he
undertook to prove that, if her Majesty did not wil-
lingly resign her place, sooner or later she would be
forced to do so ; while by her spontaneous resigna-
tion, he argued, strength would be given to the Legis-
lative body as well as to the new Government, and
thus the country might be saved.

The objection of the Empress to the plan proposed
was that she could not accept it without seeming to
desert her post at the moment of danger. “In case
it is considered that the retention of the Executive
power in my hands is an obstacle to the union of the
French people, and prejudicial to the defence, do you
think, gentlemen, that it would be a great pretension,
on the part of a woman who should voluntarily give
up a throne, to ask of the Chamber permission to
remain in Paris — in any place that might be assigned
to her, provided she might be permitted to share the
dangers, the anxieties, and the suffering of the
besieged capital ?

“ Do you believe, then,” she continued, “ that it is
agreeable to me to hold on to the powers of the
Government ? ” and, hesitating for a moment, she
added, in a voice expressing deep feeling, “Yes, you
have seen me the crowned sovereign of your holidays.
Nothing hereafter can soften the bitter memory of this

300

THE EMPRESS EUGENIE.

From a photograph taken by W. and It. Downey in 1871.

To face p . 300.

i

The Fall of the Second Empire

hour. All the mourning of France I shall carry for
ever in my soul.”

Pressed on all sides, yielding rather than persuaded,
her Majesty finally declared that if the Council of the
Regency and her Minister of War approved of the
act, she would resign.

“ You desire it, gentlemen,” she said ; “ it is not the
way I have regarded it ; but I leave aside all personal
considerations ; only I wish to act in a regular manner.
I wish that my Cabinet should be consulted. If my
Ministers agree with you with respect to the course
you propose that I should take, I shall make no
opposition.

“ Speak to M. de Palikao, gentlemen. If he agrees
to my resignation, and if he thinks it necessary, I will
tender it.”

“ Then you do permit us,” said M. Buffet, “ to
announce this decision to the Assembly, and to M.
de Palikao ? ”

“ Yes,” answered the Empress, “ you may go and
do so.”

The Delegates now rose to retire, each one of them
bowing low before her, who was still their sovereign,
and who took leave of them, extending her hand to
each, which they kissed with emotion. “ My eyes
were filled with tears,” said M.. Buffet, “ as I came
away after having witnessed such magnanimity and
disinterestedness.” 1

The perfect calmness and self-possession maintained
by the Empress from the beginning to the end of this
interview greatly impressed all the members of the

1 “ Enquete Parlementaire,” tome ii. p. 143 If.

301

The Second French Empire

deputation ; and especially when, in the midst of
the interview, a young man came into the salon with-
out having been previously announced, and cried in
a loud voice, “ They are there in the Place de la
Concorde ! ” The members of the deputation were
startled by this sudden, sharp cry of alarm ; but her
Majesty remained unmoved.

When the Deputation re-entered the Palais- Bourbon
the sitting had just been suspended, and the com-
mittees had retired to their bureaus in order to
deliberate upon three different propositions : one
made by General de Palikao, another by M. Thiers,
and the third by M. Jules Favre. It was therefore
too late for the President to submit a new proposal to
the Chamber, and the Delegates, in consequence, had
to report separately, in their respective committee-
rooms, the result of their conference with the
Empress.

When the decision of the Empress became known
to the members sitting in committee, the last cause
for hesitation was removed, and the proposition of
M. Thiers was, with a small amendment, adopted by
the majority. This proposition, after its modification,
read as follows :

“ In view of the circumstances, the Chamber will
proceed to choose a Government Commission for the
National Defence. It shall consist of five members,
to be elected by the Legislative Body. This Com-
mission will appoint the Ministry. As soon as the
circumstances shall permit, the nation will be called
upon to elect a Constituent Assembly, the duty of
which shall be to decide upon the form of Government.”

302

The Fall of the Second F?npire

A little after two o’clock the Deputies re-entered
the Audience Chamber, but, to their astonishment,
they found it occupied by the mob. The galleries of
the Chamber had, ever since noon, been crowded
with agitators from the faubourgs ; and when, at
1.30 p.m., the Deputies retired for deliberation, these
individuals went out upon the peristyle of the build-
ing, in order to put themselves in communication with
the throng that filled the streets around the Legis-
lative Palace, and had gathered on the Bridge and on
the Place de la Concorde.

About twenty minutes later, a band of rioters, led
by “ Pipe-en-Bois,” a burlesque celebrity of the time,
forced its way into the building ; and, in spite of the
firmness of M. Schneider, the President, who kept his
seat and tried to maintain order, the Audience Chamber
was soon filled with insurgents, some armed and in
uniform, and some in blouses, a motley mob of
men and boys, screaming “ Vive la Rdpublique!"
“ Ddchtance /” and rending the air with their clamour.
They even pushed in among the benches of the
Deputies, so that when the latter returned they
found most of their seats occupied.

The tumult increased from moment to moment.
Notwithstanding the efforts of M. Schneider, and the
appeals of Gambetta and other leaders of the Opposi-
tion, the order necessary for the transaction of business
could not be restored ; the voices of the speakers were
drowned by the hooting of the mob, and the Presi-
dent, putting on his hat, was compelled to suspend the
sitting.

The reader naturally will be astonished to learn that

303

Fhe Second French Empire

no military force was used to protect the Legislative
Body ; that no guard had been kept there as a pre-
cautionary measure, and that when, the mob having
assembled, the Governor of Paris was sent for, he did
not appear. In fact, General Trochu did not make
the least effort to interfere with the invasion of the
Palais- Bourbon ; nor with that of the Tuileries, which,
as will be seen, was the object of a formidable demon-
stration shortly afterward.

It is not necessary that I should give my opinion
with respect to the conduct of General Trochu on this
occasion. Napoleon III. described it as “flagrant
treason.”

In a pamphlet published shortly before his death,
entitled “ Les Principes par un Ancien Diplomate,”
the Emperor speaks of General Trochu as follows :

“ There we have a military man who has sworn
allegiance to the Emperor, and who receives from him
at a moment of supreme importance the greatest mark
of confidence. He is appointed Commander-in-Chief
of all the forces assembled in the capital. His duty
is to watch over the life of the Empress. And this
man, who on the morning of the 4th of September
declares to the Regent that any one attempting to
approach her will have to pass first over his body,
permits the Palais- Bourbon and the Tuileries to be
invaded ; and, but a few hours after his solemn pro-
testation, usurps the power, and declares himself
President of the Government of the National
Defence.

“ Never has there been a treason committed more
black, more flagrant, more unpardonable ; for it was

304

7 "he Fall of the Second Empire

committed against a woman, and at the time of a
foreign invasion. And this man, who must be called
a traitor — for this name he deserves — seems never-
theless to enjoy general esteem. He is elected in
several departments to the National Assembly by
ignorant voters, and people do not blush to shake his
hand ; they even make him President of the Com-
mission that has to decide upon points of honour.

“ Does not this fact plainly demonstrate that we
have lost our moral sense ? What a contrast between
this and an event which happened in the sixteenth
century !

“ When the Constable of Bourbon, who had con-
spired against Francis I., went to Spain, Charles V.
obliged one of the gentlemen of his Court, the Mar-
quis ofVillena, to lodge the Constable. The Marquis
obeyed. But when his guest had departed, he burned
down his house, declaring that he had no wish to
preserve a house which had given shelter to a
traitor.”

These are the words of the Emperor. And in
order that the reader may decide whether they con-
tain a just judgment, I will give an account of the
proceedings of General Trochu on the 4th of
September, basing my narrative upon official
documents.

In the Cabinet Council that was held on the
morning of the 4th, and which I have mentioned
above, General Trochu had been warned by the
Empress that an insurrectional movement would in
all probability take place. At half-past one o’clock he
was informed by M. Vallette, the Secretary-General to

vol. 1. 305 x

The Second French Empire

the President of the Legislative Assembly, that M.
Schneider feared there might be an outbreak. To-
wards two o’clock, General Lebreton, Questor of the
Assembly, fearing very great anxiety on account of
the attitude of the Gardes N ationaux and the indi-
cations of unusual popular excitement, went personally
to the Governor of Paris in order to inform him of
the gravity of the situation. When he arrived at the
Louvre he was at first told that the Governor could
not receive him, as he was very busy. M. Lebreton,
however, insisted, and was finally admitted into his
presence. He stated to General Trochu that the mob
were surrounding the Palais-Bourbon, and that some
of the leaders had already entered the building. He
implored him to go at once to this place of danger, as
his presence was necessary, and for the reason that he
alone, by his immense popularity, would be able to
keep order and protect the national Representatives.
General Trochu answered that it would be impossible
for him to do so, alleging that for several days his
popularity had been decreasing, and that General de
Palikao, the Minister of War, had succeeded in
annihilating him completely.

“At present it is too late,” he said ; “ I cannot do
anything.” To which M. Lebreton replied, “ No, it
is not too late ; but there is not a moment to be lost ; ”
for he was perfectly persuaded that the presence of
the Governor would be sufficient to prevent all
trouble.1

At last General Trochu agreed to go ; and when
the Questor saw him off, he had no doubt that he

1 “ Enquete Parlementaire,” tome ii. p. 149.

306

The Fall of the Second E?npire

would go to the Palais- Bourbon to deliver the
Assembly from the threatening danger.

In fact, General Trochu, accompanied by two
officers, started on the way towards the building
where the Representatives were sitting. He passed
through the Court of the Tuileries, went to the Place
du Carrousel, from there to the Quay, which he
followed until he arrived at the Pont de Solferino, and
then stopped and waited ; because, as he said, “ the
crowd was too dense at this point for anybody to
pass.” M. Lebreton, who had left the Louvre at the
same time, passed through this crowd without diffi-
culty, and re-entered the Palais- Bourbon. M. Jules
Favre and several other Deputies were, at about the
same time, also able to push through the crowd, and
succeeded in making their way from the Palais- Bourbon
to the Louvre.

Soon after the mob had broken into the Audience
Chamber of the Legislative Assembly, Jules Favre,
Jules Ferry, Keratry, and several other members
bitterly hostile to the Imperial Government, decided
to go to the Hotel de Ville, there to proclaim the
Republic and seize on the supreme power ; and M. de
Keratry remarked to M. Jules Favre “that he was
certain he would meet, on the way to the Hotel de
Ville, General Trochu, whose assistance would be
necessary.” 1 How M. de Keratry was sure that he
would meet the General we do not know, but the
fact is that he and his associates did find the General
waiting. “We met him,” says M. de Keratry, “on

1 Deposition de M. Keratry, “ Enquete Parlementaire,” tome i.
p. 650.

307

The Second French Empire

the Quay of the Tuileries, in front of the Conseil
d’Etat, on horseback, surrounded by his staff. It
was evident that he was waiting there for the
development of events.”

M. Jules Favre, accosting him, said: “General,
there is no longer a Legislative Body. We are going
to the Hotel de Ville. Be so good as to go back to
the Louvre. We will communicate with you there.”

Upon this the Governor quietly returned to the
Louvre. On his way he, of course, had to pass the
Tuileries, where the sovereign was to whom he had
sworn in the morning that no one should approach her
except over his dead body. Half an hour later the
Tuileries were threatened by the rioters; and no one
being there to defend the Empress, her Majesty, as
will be stated in a subsequent chapter, was obliged to
leave her palace as best she could.

About four o’clock in the afternoon MM. Steenackers
and Glais-Bizoin came to the headquarters of the
Military Governor to beg General Trochu to go to
the Hotel de Ville. The Governor took off his
uniform, put on citizen’s dress — as if he could lay
aside his allegiance with his coat, as if duty were
merely a question of clothes — and went.

When General Trochu arrived at the Hotel de Ville,
M. Jules Favre and his associates had already usurped
the sovereign power and declared themselves to be the
Government. On being informed of this, the General
put the following question to the usurpers : “ Will you
protect these three principles : God, the Family, and
Property ? ” This question was answered affirmatively
by M. Jules Favre and his colleagues.

308

The Fall of the Second Empire

“ Upon this condition,” General Trochu then added,
“ I am yours, provided you make me President of your
Government. It is indispensable that I should occupy
this post.”

The new Government, knowing well that General
Trochu would be necessary for the triumph of their
cause, acceded to his wish without hesitation. And so
General Trochu, who in the morning had been the
Imperial Governor of the city of Paris, was in the
evening President of the Insurrectional Government.

These are the simple facts regarding General
Trochu’s conduct on the 4th of September, 1870 ; and
from these facts alone the reader can decide for him-
self whether or not the judgment which Napoleon III.
pronounced against the Governor of Paris is just.1

The condition of things that obtained in the
Legislative Chamber after the close of the sitting
and the departure of the Deputies and the members
of the Cabinet, baffles description. National guards,
workmen, vagabonds, thieves, and half-grown boys —
the mob — in a compact mass crowded into every part
of the Palais- Bourbon, shouting and howling and ges-
ticulating in a wild tumult of disorder. Two young
ruffians made a rush for the Presidential chair, and
seated themselves in it at the same moment, one of
them seizing the President’s bell, which he rang with
violence and for a long time. Others, standing on the
desks of the Deputies, were haranguing the “ citizens,”
and urging them not to leave the building until the
Republic had been re-established as well as “pro-
claimed.” The uproar increasing, an effort was made

1 See Appendix VII.

309

The Second French Empire

to clear the floor of the Chamber, but with small result ;
and the galleries remained full of people, centres of
commotion and of noise ; a hundred persons were
speaking, but only occasionally could a word be heard
— a word of rage or of insult — “ a bas ” — “ conspuez
Bonaparte — et sa femme." Soon cigars, pipes, and

cigarettes were lighted, and a dense cloud of tobacco-
smoke obscured the atmosphere. This pandemonium
was kept up until it was too dark to see, when, the
rioters having slipped away one by one, silence reigned
instead in every room of the vast, sombre, and deserted
Legislative Palace, until, a few weeks later, it was filled
with the wounded and the dying brought in from the
battlefields around Paris.

It was about four o’clock when the Prince de la
Tour d’ Auvergne returned to the Foreign Office from
the Palais- Bourbon, which he had vainly endeavoured
to protect, and meeting there M. Clement Duvernois,
said to him : “ What has taken place is terrible for the
dynasty, but it is still more terrible for the country ;
because this morning we had the support of conserva-
tive Europe to enable us to conclude an honourable
peace, and this afternoon we have lost it.1

We have seen how the Palais- Bourbon was invaded
on the 4th of September. Let us now see what took
place on this memorable day at the Luxembourg.

Here, at half-past twelve o’clock, the session of the
Senate is opened under the Presidency of M. Rouher.

A Senator, M. Chabrier, immediately mounts the
Tribune, and says that he desires to send his “ last

1 “Enquete Parlementaire,” tome i. p. 225.

310

The Fall of the Second Empire

good wishes and last homage to the Emperor.” He
ends his speech with a phrase which has often been
heard in France, “ Vive ! Empereur /”

The Prince Poniatowski : “ Vive lEmpereur !"

M. de Segur d’Aguesseau : “ Vive l' Imp dr at rice /”
M. de Flamarens, believing that the Deputies have
already proclaimed the fall of the Empire, protests
against this act, and declares it to be unconstitutional,
and concludes with the exclamation, “ Vive le Prince
Imperial ! Vive la Dynastie ! ”

M. de Chabrier : “ That is understood ! ”

Numerous voices : “ Vive lEmpereur ! ”

M. Nisard : “Vanquished and a prisoner, he is
sacred!” (Marks of approbation.)

After this the whole Senate cries together : “ Vive
lEmpereur ! Vive 1' Imp eratr ice ! Vive le Prince

Imperial! Vive la Dynastie /”

M. Rouher, in a voice trembling with emotion,
makes a patriotic speech, which he closes with these
words : “In presence of the gravity of these events,
we shall know how to show the firmness of our pur-
pose and a resolute and indomitable courage.”
(Applause.)

M. Quentin- Bauchart : “And a sense of our

honour ! ”

M. Rouher : “ I propose to the Senate to declare
its sittings permanent!” (“Yes! yes!”) “The sit-
ting will be suspended, but will be opened again as
soon as I have news from the Legislative Assembly.
I ask the members of the Senate not to leave the
building.”

After this the Senators gather about the desk of the

3i i

The Second French Empire

President, who is surrounded on all sides, and every
one congratulates him on having so well expressed
the heroic sentiments by which the Senate is animated.
On the conclusion of this demonstration the members
retire, full of patriotic feeling and with resolution in
their faces.

When the news of the invasion of the Chamber of
Deputies arrives, M. Rouher instructs the ushers to
call the Senators together again ; and it is as late as
half-past two o’clock when these ushers are seen, still
rushing through the corridors, crying, “ En stance,
messieurs ! en stance ! ”

And now the President announces in a faltering
voice that the mob has entered the Palais- Bourbon.
Then he adds, “ Does the Senate wish to remain in
session, although it is probable that no bill will be
presented to us, for the Legislative Assembly cannot
deliver it ? ”

A good many of the Senators think that it would
be just as well to retire; but MM. de Mentque and
Segur d’Auguesseau declare that the Senate must
remain in permanent session. M. Laradit agrees with
them, and adds that it is necessary “ to protest against
the violence which prevents the Representatives of
the people from deliberating calmly and freely ” ; and
M. Emile de Girardin calls out that he is here in
virtue of the Plebiscitum, a representative of 7,500,000
votes, and that he will not go out except by force.
The sitting is again suspended.

After a pause of half an hour the sitting is resumed,
and M. Rouher announces that he has just been
informed that the mob has already taken entire

312

The Fall of the Second Empire

possession of the Palais- Bourbon, and that delibera-
tions there are for the moment impossible, and he
adds : “I do not know what action the Senate will
take, but, whatever it may be, it is my duty to pro-
test against the invasion by force that has paralysed
the exercise of one of our great public powers.”
(“Hear! hear!”) “Now 1 am at the orders of the
Senate to know whether you will remain in session,
or whether you wish to adjourn, to meet again as
soon as it is necessary. It is your right to make the
decision, and I call for it.”

Whatever the Senate may have wished, M. de
Mentque persists in demanding that the Senators
remain in their places. This time his proposition is
received not with general approbation, but by what
is called in French, “ des mouvements divers

M. Rouher then says : “ Were the mob at our
doors, it would be our imperative duty to face it ;
but we are not menaced, nor can we deliberate. It
is simply a question of dignity, which I shall not
discuss ; but I am ready to execute the will of the
Senate.”

M. Baroche agrees with M. Rouher ; and while
protesting against the assault on the independence of
the Chamber of Deputies, and regretting that he
cannot even die in the Senate Chamber, as he would
like to do, says : “ And now, what can we do? We
can do nothing here. Perhaps we can render ser-
vice to the country and to the dynasty outside, for
I wish to speak loudly for the dynasty.” (Applause.)
“ Besides, by separating, we yield to force and not
to fear, and our purpose is to defend, by our personal

3H

The Second French Empire

influence, order, and the Imperial dynasty to the very
last moment.”

M. de Mentque still tries to keep his colleagues
together, and proposes to wait at least until 5 p.m.
The proposition, put to a vote, is rejected. A night
session is then proposed. With reference to this
proposal, M. Rouher remarks that he will do what
he can to call the Senate together, but that the con-
vocation of the Senate in the night might not be
accomplished without difficulty.

Several other propositions are made, and, while a
confused debate is going on between the Senators
Gressier, Dupin, and Haussmann, M. Rouher takes
the occasion to leave the Senate Chamber. In his
absence the Vice-President, M. Boudet, ascends the
Tribune and closes the session with the words, “I
request the Senate to come together to-morrow at the
usual hour — two o’clock — unless the President should
call us together sooner.” A resolution to that effect
is at once adopted, and the Senators adjourn at
3.30 p.m.

During the whole time this sitting lasted no mob
had come to invade the Luxembourg. The Senators
seemed to have been entirely forgotten by the people.
The cause was the limited and entirely local charac-
ter of the insurrection, as will be soon shown.

Late in the evening an anonymous communication
was sent to the new Government, stating that there
would be a night session of the Senate, in the Lux-
embourg Palace. Upon receiving this, M. Eugene
Pelletan, the only member of the new Government
at that time present in the Hotel de Ville, ordered

3H

The Fall of the Second Empire

M. Floquet, a representative of the Municipal admin-
istration, to seal up the doors of the Senate Chamber.
In conformity with this order, M. Floquet, accom-
panied by two friends, went to the Palace of the
Luxembourg, where he arrived towards ten o’clock.
He was announced, and the Grand Referendary,
M. Ferdinand Barrot, and General de Montfort, the
Governor of the Palace, descended into the court to
meet him. M. Floquet handed to the Grand Referen-
dary, who was surrounded by two squadrons of gen-
darmes, the order of the insurrectionary Government.
On receiving it, this gentleman replied, “ I yield to
force.”

After having submitted to force, M. Barrot asked
if he might remain in the palace, and if the Senators
would be permitted to enter their committee-rooms to
remove the articles belonging to them. M. Floquet
answered in the affirmative, and while the Grand
Referendary was retiring, began quietly to seal up the
doors, and thus put an end to the existence of the
Senate of the Second Empire.1

1 “Journal du Siege de Paris,” par Georges d’Heylli, tome i. p. 21
et seq. (Compte-rendu stenographique de la derniere seance du
Senat.) “ Histoire du Second Empire,” par Taxile Delord, tome vi.
p. 5 1 6 et seq.

END OF VOL. I.

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